Unspoken: Failed Whispers Enduring Scars
by LegendsGuardian
Summary: Time changes, and so can people. But there is one thing that never changes: the past and the lasting impact it's had. Even though they thought they moved on, that the ordeals were over, the scars left behind by the battles seem to be open wounds now.
1. Chapter 1

**Unspoken: Failed Whispers; Enduring Scars**

**Summary: **Time changes, and so can people. But there is one thing that never changes: the past and the lasting impact that past has had. Even though they thought they moved on, that they were past the ordeals, the scars left behind by the constant battles seem to be open wounds now. Sometimes, the past just doesn't want to let go.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Ronin, the Warlords, or anything that is officially affiliated with them.

_A/N: This story is unlike anything I have ever written, so you're not going to find TGOL, TSW, or WAS here. This is based off of the fanfic 'Unspoken' which is based off a roleplay Sifirela and I started not long ago. I've seen comments that ask about the psychological issues the Ronin Warriors would go through after fighting like they have. The rp was meant to explore those issues, as well as the darker ones…Mainly because I've seen people complain that the 'darker ones' would never happen. I find, to quote one of my characters, that is a load of bull. To remain on topic, I wanted to explore it in roleplay because I doubted I'd get the chance to write a fic exploring the issues. Unfortunately, Sifirela writing Unspoken, has started a chain reaction of events largely affecting my creativity thus shoving me into writing the fanfic I never thought I'd write. …Just what I needed._

**Rated:** M, for dark/mature themes. And granted teenagers deal with one certain theme on a day-to-day basis, but I'm rating it M regardless. And also because there's going to be language…Like I said, this is not like the stuff I normally write.

**Warning:** The official dates for events that occurred in the series, OVAS, and Cassette Books are not applicable to this story. That is why there will be certain things in the story that come across as inappropriate for the official time-line. I'm not following it in this story.

* * *

**Chapter One**

_I guess…Part of me always wondered what life would be like after the battles, when the rest of me was simply trying to survive those battles. It was something that was on all of our minds, I'm sure. Fighting just to survive was difficult, more than any normal person will understand…But we were fighting for more than just that of our own lives, we were fighting for everyone's. As fourteen-year-olds we really could not wrap our heads around what was really going on…Looking back on it as adults, I can see, I'm sure the others can, just how lucky we were to make it out alive. _

…_But just because we made it out alive, doesn't mean the fighting didn't change us. It did, in many ways, and not all of them so wondrous. Any injuries we had from those fights are nothing more than barely visible scars now…Yet, I can point out each one I have and where I got it from. And sometimes…Sometimes, I fear that my mental wounds never healed properly…And if they didn't, what does that mean for the others?_

_

* * *

_

If one thing did not change with the passage of time, it was Tokyo. Now more than ever the city seemed to be abuzz with life. Life, of course, referring mainly to the fact so much of the city was heavily trafficked.

Yet, there were certain sections of Tokyo that remained off the beaten path, as it were. These particular spots were blessedly free of the hordes that normally walked down the sidewalks, though they still acquired plenty of people throughout the day.

In this section, there were a number of specialty shops…The buildings looking relatively new, except for one. It was a brick, but quite faded from years of exposure to the sun, and there were certain spots the brick was crack. It was not in anyway structurally unsound; it simply looked to be rather out of place.

The sign over the top of the building, was hand-painted and seemed to be as worn as the building itself. It read that the store was home to medicinal herbs, more or less, it was a homeopathic place. The small sign on the door, said that the store was indeed open.

As one entered the shop, they would find shelves of herbs in the front, and a singular counter towards the back of the store where the register sat. Behind that was a door which obviously led to the store room. The store room itself was lined with even more shelves, but poorly lit in comparison to the actual shop…So much so it was difficult to see the occupant clearly.

A man with what had to be auburn hair held a clipboard in his hand as he looked over the herbs stored in this room. A small frown framed his lips as he took the pen attached to the clipboard, and started to make notes. A few things were running low, and would have to be re-ordered…Everything else seemed to be in perfect condition.

His task was now complete, so he walked back to the front of the shop pausing as he went from the dimly lit room to the brightly lit one. It took his sea-green eyes several minutes to focus, but once they had he walked over to the counter opened the drawer, and placed the clipboard in it before closing the drawer and locking it shut.

Business tended to be slow on these days, but it didn't really matter to him. Cye Mouri did not have anywhere else to go, or someplace important to be. The shop was in what he considered to be a nice section of town, and even though she could be an eccentric old bird, his mother's friend was really a nice caring woman. It was just she was _very_ heavy on the eccentric part.

The woman was slightly older than his mother, and most of her children, and grandchildren, had moved to other parts of the country leaving her very much alone…None of them had wanted to run the homeopathic business their parents had started.

So, Cye was helping the poor old woman out. Really, she didn't act like she needed help she had plenty of spunk for her age. But managing this store was difficult for just one person, and his mother had asked him if he could help her dearest friend out.

The Ronin of Torrent had, of course, done the task without complaint, and had been doing working here for the past seven months. Having lost his father, he cherished the only living parent he had left and did whatever she asked of him…And seeing as how she was sick…

Cye winced a moment, trying not to allow his mind to focus on that part, but it did him no good. Within the past two years his mother's frail health had taken a turn for the worst. Whereas at one point she had been recovering, with each day that passed the worse she became. It hurt him, and Sayoko, to see their mother in such a state, but they did what they could to make her feel comfortable.

The door opened and the young man shook his head free of the thoughts, and smiled at the person who had entered, "Ah, Grandma, I thought you were going to stay home today?"

'Grandma' was the only name Mrs. Mouri's friend would permit herself to be called, and for the life of him Torrent's bearer could never recall hearing the old woman's last name before. It wasn't even on any of the store documents; everyone called her Grandma, she insisted on it.

"Just wanted to see how my store and employee were doing," she said by way of answering, her dark brown eyes skimming the shelves as if looking for anything out of place. Her once black hair, was now completely white, and she couldn't have been more than 4'9." But what she lacked in stature she made up for in personality, as in, she was more than capable of defending herself, if push came to shove.

Cye actually pitied those that tried to shoplift, simply because of how viscous the little woman could be. He doubted even Sekhmet would be able to avoid being crushed at her hands. Now there was a thought that could bring a smile to his face, the little old lady beating the Warlord of Venom to death with her all powerful broomstick.

"How many customers have we had so far?"

Cye thought it over for a brief moment, "Ten. They were sad to hear that you would be closing at the end of this month."

Grandma stretched, cracked her back, "Well, I can't stay in this business forever. Ever since Yoshi died, it just hasn't been the same. But I've had a good long run, he's been gone for five years. Now's more than a good time for me to retire. I have grandchildren to fuss over after all."

_'More like torture,' _the Ronin of Torrent dryly thought to himself, and then gave a nod to her words. "Of course."

She paused and studied him a moment, a slight frown on her face, "You look tired. Go home. I'm giving you the rest of the day off."

"B-but…" Cye blinked in surprise, and stopped when she waved him off.

"I mean it you, young whippersnapper, get your butt home. You look ready to fall over, find your bed roll, before you find the floor," she walked behind him and pushed him out onto the main floor, shoving him towards the door.

The Ronin of Torrent shook his head and sighed in defeat, "Okay, okay I'll go home! I can walk Grandma, honest."

"Good that's more like it," the old woman stopped pushing him, and gave a delighted smile. "You say hi for me. See you tomorrow, Cye."

"Tomorrow, then," Cye gave a bow of his head, before grabbing his jacket, and walking out of the store.

* * *

Once out on the sidewalk and past the store he paused and stretched, his muscles having tightened up after standing stationary for so long. Really, he felt a little tired, but surely it was nothing more than the result of a night of interrupted sleep…For the third night in a row.

All he needed, was one night of complete rest and he would be perfectly fine. The cause of his interrupted sleep? Well, he had an apartment in Tokyo once more, perhaps two blocks away from the one he had when he was in highschool, and he did not occupy said apartment alone.

Unfortunately, Yuki was the type to sleep all day and be up all night. She could be a real mischief maker and seemed to care little about how much sleep he got. It seemed her preferred time to really raise the roof was around three to four in the morning.

Cye had been unable to convince her that he needed more sleep than what she was permitting him to get. But in spite of that, he enjoyed her company a great deal and it kept him from being alone.

The Ronin of Torrent stopped in a small grocery store and got something he could make for the two of them for lunch. Yuki happened to be an exceedingly light sleeper, and he knew she'd wake up. In the end he picked up a little bit of eel, which he knew happened to be her favorite. He then continued his walk home.

* * *

Cye used the stairs to climb to his third floor apartment, not feeling like taking the elevator. Once outside his door, he reached into his pocket and produced his keys. He then stuck the apartment key into the lock, turned it, and then opened the door walking inside and shutting it behind him.

He placed the bag on the counter, having left his shoes by the door. The Ronin of Torrent then turned his head, having heard movement. As he had suspected, Yuki was now awake.

The man smiled, querying, "How's my girl? I brought you lunch."

Bright blue eyes looked up at him, before Yuki squinted them and let out a happy mewl, the Siamese cat immediately started purring when Cye picked her up and stroked her.

"Good to hear it, I got you eel," he chuckled when she gave a 'brrd' in response; he ran one more hand through her silky fur and then let her down. The cat was content to wind around his ankles as he went about getting the food ready.

She contently ate it once he gave it to her, and then rubbed in to him, showing him more affection most likely the cat's way of saying 'thank-you for the meal.'

Cye made himself some soup, and then walked with it into the living room. His apartment was sparsely decorated, but that was because he felt little need to collect things just so they could gather more dust. A few photographs hung in frames on the walls, several adorned a table…And the one end table he walked past held a photograph that served as a reminder.

A reminder that he had been a Ronin Warrior, that he had not been alone for those trials…For some reason, Torrent's bearer paused and looked at the picture for a moment.

Whatever happened to those five teenagers in subarmor? What had happened to fighting until their very last breath, spilling their blood, their tears…Practically destroying themselves in order to save all humanity?

Had it really been worth it? All they had done, all they had suffered, in the end had it really made that much of a difference? Every now and then, Cye wondered if it was all pointless, other times he knew it had been worth it. That they had done the right thing, but sometimes, late at night when he couldn't sleep, he worried about the costs to them…Costs he was certain they would never be able to understand, and knew the others would not share.

Talpa's defeat had occurred some ten years ago, Suzunagi's spirit was freed and laid to rest six years ago. Cye was twenty-five-years old now, and those that weren't there yet, would be soon enough. His past of fighting demons, sorcerers, and in battles no one could ever accurately comprehend was over, but still on his mind.

Suzunagi had left them the new armors, there had been another fight to come, and they had all accepted that. But, time had passed and with each passing month, then years, they had started to move on with their lives. The Ronin Warriors, the team that had battled all odds and somehow won against them…Had fallen apart.

They were no longer readily in contact with one another. Cye had talked to Kento last, face-to-face, about two months ago. Since then they'd been able to speak over the phone only a handful of times.

The Faun Family Restaurant was now completely in the eldest Faun children's hands (Kento, Rinfi, and Yun) as their parents had retired some four months ago. Two months ago the pair had gone on a much needed vacation, somewhat of another honeymoon. Thus, Kento had been left in charge of the care of his siblings who were not old enough to be out of the house yet.

In addition to all of that, the Ronin of Hardrock still had his job at a highschool as a school counselor. Yes, that had all surprised them when the Warrior of Strength went to school specifically to be a counselor. Really, it shouldn't have come as such a surprise, as Kento had always been very good with people. Coming from such a large family, and having been helping in the family business, since he was old enough to do so, had helped hone his people skills.

There was a downside to it though, one Cye was well aware of just by his talks with Hardrock's bearer over the phone. Kento was under a great deal of stress, had been for the last year. If anyone needed a vacation, Torrent's bearer reasoned, it was the poor Ronin of Hardrock.

Rowen? Cye had not heard from the archer since the man moved to the United States some four years ago. The Ronin of Strata had graduated from highschool at the same time as Torrent's bearer, meaning he'd gotten out a year ahead of the other three.

Also like Cye, the Strata Ronin had already been taking college courses while still in highschool. So by the time he was out of college, several business firms were chomping on the bit to have the reputable genius working for them. In the end, Rowen had gotten a job in Research and Development for a firm that operated in both Japan and America.

He'd left for the United States, maybe a month after a huge blow-up between him and the swordsman of Halo. What it had been about, the Ronin of Trust had no clue, he only knew that it had occurred. The only reason he knew it had happened, was due to Ryo.

Out of all the other Ronin, Ryo was the only one Cye was in constant contact with. Simply because, Wildfire's bearer had figured out Cye had moved back to Tokyo and was working in a section of town he frequently passed. Thus, Torrent normally saw Ryo on a weekly basis, and at times at least once a day.

The Ronin of Wildfire had been a soccer star in highschool, and they had all expected him to go on with that as a career. Instead, he was recruited by a newspaper. He worked that job while going to college and getting his degree in journalism.

He had started out a simple reporter, but a year or so ago he had been promoted, and was now the managing editor of the sports section. Quite the feather in his cap, as Cye had told him, though Ryo simply shrugged off the praise. A job was a job to him.

As for the Ronin of Halo? Here, Cye had to walk onward and sit down in the chair next to the table. Sage…Hadn't exactly had it easy. While they were still in highschool, it had been revealed to them that he was engaged to be married; though the marriage was not to occur until he was older…Out of highschool and ready to take over the clan.

Now, Cye had met the bride-to-be on several occasions, and she had seemed nice enough…But all he knew was that she had eloped with another man not long before the wedding date, and Sage had ended up becoming disowned by his clan.

Of course, Sage had given them a choice…Treat him like he belonged, or disown him officially as they'd been doing it unofficially all of his life. Cye still supported the man's decision to stand up to the elders like that, but getting a hold of the blond was impossible these days.

Mainly because…The Ronin of Torrent eyed the book lying on the table, the cover title was hard to read from the angle he sat, but it was unimportant…The fact that the author's name was readable was all that mattered. _Date, Sage._

Cye still had to chuckle, the Ronin of Halo had always been quiet, no one had ever suspected him of having such a vibrant imagination or wondrous way with words. Torrent's bearer had never thought anything of seeing the blond writing down something in a notebook back in highschool, until the man revealed it was a book he was working on.

Which was currently on Japan's best-selling list, so Halo's bearer had gained himself quite a bit of fame, and as such had changed phone numbers so often that Cye could no longer remember which one was current.

Oh well…Maybe it was just as well to let the others get on with their lives, and not serve as a reminder of what they had all suffered in the past. At least, some days Cye felt that way. He couldn't have known that it was, at times, a shared sentiment…Nor could any of them have known it was not _their_ sentiment.

_A/N:I so got you with Yuki, come on admit it, you know I did. You thought it was going to be an actual woman; never expected it to be a cat (especially seeing as how it's Cye we're talking about here)._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Co-Written with Sifirela

* * *

_Looking back at it now, I s'pose some could accuse us of being in over our heads. Hell, we were in over our heads the moment we accepted the Ancient's armors. But, that didn't mean we were concerned with it at the time. No, we had more important things to do. We had a world to save from a demonic emperor. We ended up fighting things that should never have been able to exist, yet they did exist...Some still do._

_It didn't make any sense to me then, and even now it continues to evade my understanding. Why us? Out of all the millions of people on this planet, how is it that five fourteen-year-olds were chosen for such a momentous task? I get now, that the armors are the ones that picked us, but why? Did we embody the virtues the Ancient told them to look for, or was it for another reason altogether? These questions shouldn't bother me anymore, but they still do at times...I have no clue why either._

_It's been a long time since any of us had to fight, and we've all moved on...Or, it looks like we have, but maybe we really haven't. How can you let go of a past like ours, without losing some of the good? Or, can you really let go of it at all?_

* * *

A midnight blue eye slipped open, before the man let out a yawn and sat up in his bed. His blue hair was sticking out at odd angles, but was easily fixed as he ran a hand through it, then took said hand and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

His alarm clock read six-thirty; it would not go off until seven, which was when he needed to get up in order to get ready to go to work. Rowen Hashiba let out a long languid sigh and got to his feet. He might as well start getting ready now, there was no point in trying to go back to sleep to catch just a miniscule thirty minutes.

The Ronin of Strata had learned how to function on little to no sleep back in his last year of highschool. Of course, getting up had been the hard part. Staying up late, and then having low-blood pressure to top it off, certainly had not helped him to be a morning person.

But, he was on medication to help manage his low blood pressure (which somehow had become so dangerously low his oriental doctor had nearly gone white) and he had learned to deal with staying up until midnight, and then getting up early in the morning. He still needed an exorbitant amount of caffeine to make it through the day, though.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the archer emerged from his bathroom, showered and dressed for the day ahead. In the beginning, the young man had simply been another person in the Research and Development department, now with his expertise and well-versed knowledge, he practically _ran_ it.

As evidence by the fact his boss stuck him with all the new employees, or new interns. Rowen had been made aware of the fact there would be a new intern today...He wasn't necessarily looking forward to it.

The normally independent archer had become downright anti-social during his time in the United States. He stayed focused on his job, and only interacted with his co-workers when he had no other choice. Rowen rarely went out, and he had not taken a vacation since his first year of working at the company's United States firm.

As such, his relationship with the other Ronin was practically non-existent. He was horrible with letters and email, a trait he had undoubtedly picked up from his father, and calling was quite expensive. So, he had not heard from Cye since he moved, Kento he'd e-mailed last maybe two or three months ago...And Ryo had a habit of calling him once a month and sending him an email once a week.

Here Strata's bearer had to pause, on his way out the door, and roll his eyes. They had always accused Cye and Sage of being 'mother hens,' but if anyone fell into that category now, it was the Ronin of Wildfire. Ryo was always checking up on him, making sure he was okay.

Granted, Rowen could somewhat understand the reason for the Fire Ronin's seeming paranoia. The archer had taken ill and been placed in the hospital, twice so far that year. No matter how hard Strata's bearer tried to reassure him, Ryo just did not buy the fact that Rowen was getting too involved in projects and simply forgetting his medication.

"What does he think I'm trying to do?" the blue-haired man muttered to himself, as he walked into the elevator. Once the metal doors slid shut, he leaned back against the wall, a small frown framing his features.

He and Sage talked weekly now, but it had not been that way for a great length of time. Rowen's frown turned into a scowl as he thought back on the fight they had just before he had moved to the States. It had not been a pretty one; both of them had exchanged exceedingly nasty words. The end result had been they stormed off from each other, and those were the last words they had.

At least, that was up until two years ago when the swordsman had called him, most likely having gotten the number from Ryo, and apologized. Well, they had both been right and wrong, as Rowen had told him, and it was best just to leave it at that.

Since then, they had been communicating rather regularly and whatever tension having been there before was gone by this point. Of course, Rowen got the distinct feeling his blond friend wasn't telling him everything. It wasn't like he could call Sage on it though; he would have been a hypocrite for doing so.

There were things he wasn't telling anyone, much preferring to deal with them by himself and on his own terms. Yet, it would have been more correct to say he wasn't dealing with them at all.

* * *

Rowen took a quick glance at the clock on the wall, as he paused in his typing, it was eight-thirty now. His boss would be in soon to introduce the new intern. The Ronin of Strata only hoped this person would be a little more capable than the last six he had to deal with.

It wasn't abnormal for Rowen to come into work early, and immediately begin working. The company didn't care about overtime, as long as the projects got completed, that was all that mattered.

Strata's bearer happened to be very good at his job, more so when he did not have any distractions. New people were _always_ a distraction. Either they were so incompetent it drove him insane, or they knew of his reputation for being on par with a super computer in brain power.

Nothing was more frustrating than that, _nothing_. The door opened, and Rowen did not bother to look up, already knowing who had entered.

"Good morning, Mr. Bennigan," the archer greeted, hands moving across the keyboard as he kept his focus on the computer screen.

Thomas Bennigan was a short, stout man, of Irish descent, though being fourth generation American, he had no accent to speak of, other than an exceedingly heavy city one, "Ah, Mr. Hashiba. I did give you fair warning about the new intern, didn't I?"

"Yes sir, you did," Rowen finally looked up to see what he was going to be stuck with _this_ time. His jaw would have clattered to the floor, if it had been able.

Rowen eyed the young woman standing behind his boss rather warily. How could this be possible? Of all the people he had to deal with, of all the ones he could have possibly dealt with in the future...This was unreal!

Did she not know she was in the wrong time? Especially with those clothes, he might not have been a fashion freak, but even he knew that her style was severely out-dated. Actually, as a matter of fact her whole _age_ was out-dated.

His boss seemed to misunderstand the look, and went on to explain, "Now Mr. Hashiba. She's here for a year, the internship program only works for that long. She has even requested she be under your wing. I told her she made a fine choice." Mr. Bennigan said with a faint smile.

"Uh--uh..." Rowen could only helplessly blink, all intelligent words failing him completely. He looked from Kayura to his boss, from his boss to Kayura again...The yellow thread-suit not doing her beauty justice. It made her look like a blue-haired bumble-bee.

"Oh. Come now, Hashiba!" Mr. Bennigan slapped Rowen on the back with a laugh. "She's a beauty, so teach her right okay?" Mr. Bennigan smiled at Kayura, waved and walked out.

As soon as the door clicked closed, Rowen scowled, "What the HELL are you doing here?"

Kayura gave a snort as the archer's display of attitude, "Living my life, what does it look like?"

She sighed in relief eyeing the closed door, "Thank God he left. I was afraid I'd never be able to get out of this thing."

The Lady Ancient proceeded to undress right in front of the archer...Sort of, she simply pulled off the yellow suit and pants and promptly dumped them into the trash bin. She was now left in a belle-sleeved dress shirt, and pressed pants, which were much more fitting for her figure.

"Sekhmet bought the suite for me. Damn fool is color blind, but I promised I'd wear it on my first day. So I humored him. Humoring now over."

"I thought you were in charge of the Netherworld, you know, keeping is safe, and free of demons, like the ones you live with," Rowen said dryly. He did his best not to stare at the young woman, even though it had been sometime since he'd seen her last.

The last time he had seen her, had been maybe three or four years after Talpa's final defeat. Ryo had conned the others into meeting up with her and the Warlords in order to remember Anubis. Well, that had been an interesting outing to say the very least.

She had looked very much like a child then, but she was definitely a young woman now. The Lady Ancient had grown several inches, and filled out, losing the girlish looks she once had. Her hair had also been cut, slightly shorter than what he was used to seeing. Rowen had to admit it complemented her face much better.

And, the minute that thought crossed his mind the Strata Ronin mentally slapped himself and returned to working on his laptop.

Kayura gave a snort and rolled her eyes, "I was doing that. Until the Ancient told me that I would be better off here. He said to leave the Warlords in charge so I did. I've been in the mortal realm for the past five years. I didn't get here yesterday."

"Leave it in their hands?" Rowen arched an eyebrow, and snorted, "Are they even capable of doing that? Last time I saw them they were drunk as could be on the anniversary of Anubis's death."

Yeah, that was what had made the outing so interesting. Three overtly drunk Warlords...Of course, it had been exceedingly alarming at the time. But now, he could look back on it and laugh.

"You haven't had to live with them, they're capable enough and where they can't handle it, I know she can, so it's not an issue," Kayura said dismissively. Of course, she was leaving out the fact the Warlords had begun living in the mortal realm three-years-ago, but she found no need to concern the Strata Ronin with that information.

"She? Who's she?" Rowen asked, tilting his head towards Kayura. Mentally punching himself this time, when he noticed he was staring at her body again. It had been way too long since he'd been in a relationship. Rowen had practically married his work, and while many of his female coworkers had thrown themselves at his feet...He just wasn't the type of man interested in that sort of thing.

"Oh, well the Nether Realm isn't filled with just demons," she remarked offhandedly, as she sat down in a chair and pulled open a book with numbers and data in them. "There are some rather old beings therein, young by their standards, old by our standards. They showed up not long after they heard Talpa was gone; they've been helping us out."

Kayura gave a grin as she looked to Strata's bearer, "I made friends with someone about my age, and she's even more capable than I am at handling things. I'm not worried."

"I see," Rowen said stretching in his chair. "So you've made progress into the modern-day world. I'm surprised."

"Not that I'm calling you remedial," he quickly added before cracking his neck.

"This world was an easy study," Kayura said seemingly unconcerned with his comments; "So exactly what part of this project do you want me to work on?"

"Ah this part," Rowen handed her some files, his eyes taking on a bored look, "Since you're 'new,' I have to give you something 'easy.' So that the boss won't think I'm too hard on you."

Kayura let out a chuckle in amusement, "Poor Ro, everyone says you're a slave-driver. Oh if they only knew. You were always soft and squishy." She chortled at his look, and gladly took the files opening up the first and reading it over carefully.  
Rowen merely shook his head and went back to work, knowing she was baiting him to say something more. He knew better than to rise to such bait, luckily.

* * *

An hour-and-a-half later the archer once more moved, this time to stretch. As he did so, he grasped something. A small frown framed his face as he squeezed it, as he did so he heard a sharp gasp and earned a pock in the back of his head.

His eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he whipped his head around, though he relaxed once he realized he had simply grabbed a doughnut Kayura had been going to eat.

Rowen rubbed at the back of his head with his clean hand, now he would have to wash the other off to get rid of the sticky substance. He got to his feet and walked to the door, opened it.

"Get your own sugar," Kayura told him, though it was in play.

"Sorry, not a sugar-holic, I already went through that phase. I don't need a fat butt," Rowen called back over his shoulder.

"Butt looks fine to me," the Lady Ancient said in a sing-song voice, as she finished her doughnut and the Ronin of Strata walked back into the room.

His face immediately flushed at the comment, and he grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, before returning to his desk and resuming the work.

To this the Lady Ancient gave a triumphant smirk, and went back to her own task...Though, by this point she was already half-way through the files she had been given.

* * *

The rest of the day continued on with a certain amount of normalcy, Rowen would never have expected possible considering he was working with a former enemy. Not to mention, one that had nearly succeeded in killing him half-a-dozen times.

But, he had let that go a very long time ago. No matter how much he had wanted to hold onto that anger and that hatred...He just couldn't. There was no logic in something as foolish as that, or that was how he had explained it to himself.

By four o'clock Kayura's time at the job was done for the day. She did not say much, simply a goodbye and see you later, before she walked out of his office and disappeared down the hall.

The Ronin of Strata had gotten up, pausing in what he was doing, to see what she had done and what else he would have to do. He was surprised to find the folders he had given her now neatly arranged in order of importance, the information within them arranged in chronological order, and that whatever missing data had been there was now filled in with very neat script.

It was definitely a pleasant surprise. Kayura was actually capable of doing the job that almost made her sudden appearance less disconcerting. Well, not quite but he wouldn't worry about that now.

* * *

At five, he packed up his things and grabbed the rest of what he had been working on and went home to work on it some more. He had wanted to get this one project done today, and he was going to try and get it finished so he could get on to the next thing. The hours passed quickly once he got home, he only took two or three small breaks before returning to typing away on his laptop. The piece of technology was protesting the overuse quite a great deal, not as much as his body, but close enough.

When Strata's bearer finally bothered to glance at the clock, he was so bleary eyed he could barely read it. It was just past midnight. Rowen let out a groan and rubbed at his eyes, then saved everything and shutdown the laptop. So much for getting it all done, but he was a lot closer now than what he had been before.

The archer let out a sigh, and then headed off to bed far too tired to think about why the Lady Ancient had suddenly appeared, and too exhausted to care. Well, he would probably care in the morning when the realization completely dawned on him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

**Written by Sifirela; some parts added by LG**

* * *

_Give credit, where credit is due. Something Mama always told us when we were children. It would be nice to receive credit for all the good things you have done in life, that's not something I am going to deny. It's just, not something I expect I'll ever get. People talk about thankless jobs?_

_Being a Ronin Warrior falls under that category. No one knew what we did, how much we sacrificed. For any human being to do what we did is remarkable, but five kids? C'mon, that's unbelievable. Sad part is no one will ever remember what has happened, or even believe it. My family knows some of what I've done, my younger siblings, of course, think it is a joke. But that's okay, as long as I had a way to talk about some of it, it made coping with it easier._

_That doesn't mean I coped with it a hundred percent, I don't think any of us did. Especially those who didn't have any support system other than us. We made it through all our battles…Everything that was thrown at us, we triumphed over. We had some extremely close calls, sure. But we made it out __**alive**__, shouldn't that be all that really matters in the end? My problem is, if that is all that really matters…Why do I feel like I'm still fighting for my life, seconds away from my death, that of my friends, and the end of everything I know? _

* * *

Kento Rei Faun was bent over the order form for the restaurant's stock, his blue eyes intently focusing on the numbers of necessary items and the amount they would cost. Ever since his father had retired, and his mother soon followed, the bearer of Hardrock had decided to partially own the chain of restaurants with two of his younger siblings.

There was no way the Ronin of Hardrock could completely devote his attention solely to the maintenance of the family business. He had gone to college, while still working at the restaurant like he had throughout highschool, had graduated and was now a certified therapist.

When he was not devoting his time here, he was working at a highschool in Tokyo as a school counselor. It was a well paying job, but it wasn't very rewarding.

Most of the problems the kids came to him with, were nothing more than immature whining. Something he had quickly grown tired of, but he remained because there were a few students that had real problems. Ones he had helped them through, and continued to help them through.

He glanced up after the bell had rung signaling someone had come in through the entrance, to see that it was Chun Fa.

"Hey Niichan," Chun Fa said, glomping her older brother from behind.

"Hey Chunny!" He smiled at the fourteen year old girl.

She was almost as tall as he was now. Skinny legs poked out of the long pleated skirt she wore, and scrawny arms were holding her backback to her back. Her small framed face would be beautiful when she grew out of her awkward stage.

And she complained about said awkward stage often. Her long black hair was pinned to her head, she quickly released it and shoved some over her shoulder.

"Please don't call me that Kento-nii-chan. You can call me imouto, mei mei, or Chun Fa, but not Chunny. I'm not six anymore," she wrinkled her nose at him. The youngest of the Faun children, was unlike her elder siblings.

Where they were trilingual, knowing Japanese, English, and their native tongue of Chinese, Chun Fa knew only Japanese and English. She had shown no desire in learning Chinese, which is why she called Kento 'nii-chan' instead of 'gege.'

"Aw but you'll always be my Chunny-Chun-bunny-bun," Kento said teasingly.

Chun Fa simply groaned and shook her head, embarrassed although nobody was in the restaurant at this time. Though, they would be soon enough.

"You are pathetic," she said in complaint, putting down her bag, and snorting. "You're doing nee-san's work again aren't you?"

"She's busy more than half the time so yes, I have to do her work sometimes," Kento said politely, shaking his head at her comment.

"You do it nearly all the time," the teen pointed out dryly, before giving a huge sigh.

The Ronin of Hardrock tried to pay his youngest sibling little mind as he went through the order forms, this had to be the fifth time he was looking the things over, but being a little cautious beat being lazy.

Of course, she continued to groan and give irritated sighs, so finally Kento had to look up at her and stare, "What's the matter with you?"

The teen had a lidded look on her face, "You mean you don't remember? Gah, Kento you're going senile." Chun Fa rolled her eyes and pulled out tickets. "You said you'd take me to this concert! Have you forgotten already?"

Kento's mouth dropped open and he looked at her like she had two heads, "But I thought it wasn't until next month?"

The Warrior of Strength glanced at the wall calendar, and felt like someone had dropped kicked him when he saw that today's date was marked for the concert…At six. It was already 5:15 in the afternoon, and it took at least forty minutes to get to the venue.

If you followed all the laws, and didn't take the shortcuts he happened to know about, at any rate.

"Crap, sorry Chun," he put the order forms in the drawer and locked it, "You should have reminded me sooner."

"You should remember things instead of me being there to remind you, you devastatingly old senile fart."

Hardrock's bearer had a retort waiting on his lips, but thought better of it. He saw no point in getting into an argument with his already over-emotionally sister...And here he thought she was going to be much better than he was at that age. Ya, right.

He simply grabbed his keys, shouted a 'be back later' to his brother Yun, and ushered Chun Fa out the entrance door.

* * *

Several hours later, Kento was rubbing his ears as they were still ringing, "I will **never** take you back to that concert. Why didn't you tell me that it was Metallica? I would have put my ear-plugs on. Lousy music."

As was typical of a fourteen-year-old girl who felt her older brother was being absolutely ridiculous, Chun Fa ignored him and continued to talk with her best friend. The girls were currently in discussion about how cool it was that they had three bands playing and how cute one of the local bands' members had been.

That comment did not go unnoticed by Kento at all, "Whoa! Hold the phone! You are _not_ dating a musician, hell you aren't dating anybody until you're 81! That's an order."

"Oh, hush, Kento-nii-chan. We're not intending on dating them, merely remarking about their appearance," Chun Fa waved off his words with little care.

Her best friend, and classmate since sixth grade, Akemi did her best to remain quiet at this sibling squabble, feeling a little uncomfortable and sorely out of place.  
Kento snorted, "Well talk about it when I'm out of earshot so I won't go crazy hearing about your heart-throbs. That's just disgusting hearing your sister talk about kissing and PMS. Ugh."

"We do not talk about PMS. You're so gross Kento," Chun Fa wrinkled her nose at her brother's comment.  
Akemi gave a shake of her raven hair, brown-eyes blinking at her friend who was scowling, obviously displeased with her big brother. The girl checked her watch, "Ah, I have to go Chun Fa. Father said he'd pick me up, a few minutes ago. I will see you at school."

"You need to grow up is more like it and get your head out of the clouds." Kento pointed out, saying in warning, "You're fourteen, one more year in junior high and then it's entrance tests."

"Mama and I have been through this, Kento. I don't need to hear a lecture coming from you," Chun Fa said, brushing him off once more, doing her best to hide her irritation at her brother. She smiled and waved, "See you Akemi!"  
She waited until she saw her best friend's father, bowed her head to him when she knew he had seen her, and then abruptly rounded on her older brother, face full of annoyance.

"I wish you would stop embarrassing me Kento! You're ruthless, especially when it comes to me and my friends. Not to mention you're almost constant nagging about my need to grow up in front of them. Sometimes I wish you'd just butt out of my private life." Chun Fa irritably told him.

Kento blinked and tried to take a step back from the situation, how the hell did this conversation get into an argument? All he said was that she needed to grow up, more or less, she needed to act her age.  
Hardrock's bearer sighed and shook his head, "I'm sorry okay, you're my littlest sister, of course I'm going to be hard on you. I'm just suggesting--"

"Then stop suggesting and just leave it alone. If I want your advice then I'll ask for it. I'm not afraid too Kento, you taught me to be myself and have fun. Now you're an old fart-wannabe who's lost their sense of humanism."

Chun Fa sighed, suddenly seeing little point in trying to get through to him any further, she merely shook her head, "Forget it, Nii-chan, let's just go home."

The Warrior of Strength could only dumbly stare after her, as she walked onward and got into the car. He heaved a frustrated sigh, gah teenagers were so confusing and infuriating! Kento shook himself of the feelings, and simply went ahead and got into the car and drove them back home.

* * *

By the time Kento was able to stop for the day, it was nearly midnight. The man gave a tired sigh as he parked his car, and then began the walk to his fourth floor apartment.

He felt completely and totally exhausted now. The Warrior of Strength merely counted his blessings that he had been off from school that day. Unfortunately, it meant twice the issues tomorrow. Oh well, he would worry about that as he came to it.

Running the restaurant could be a handful, especially when Rinfi was so busy and bogged down by other things. Then Chun Fa and her outbursts earlier that afternoon…Kento shook his head, he still had no idea what had brought that about.

Perhaps, part of him didn't want to know either. He had to admit, maybe he was being a little bit too hard on her, but really he was just trying to look out for her. As she was the youngest of the family, Kento felt he had to protect her from what was out there, and make sure she was prepared.

Then, there was the fact that their parents were on a much needed vacation, a somewhat second honeymoon. There was no telling when the elder Faun's would get back, they'd been gone for two months already.

With both the parents away, he had to keep an eye on the ones that were not yet of an age to be out of the house and on their own. Granted, Rinfi was also there to help but with as busy as she was running her own little business, she couldn't be there all the time.

Kento unlocked his apartment and stepped inside, pushing the door closed behind him. Maybe, maybe he was mothering her a little too much and she wasn't appreciating the methods.

He had to admit, it had been a little thoughtless of him to start hounding on her right in front of one of her friends. He was just worried about her, he wanted so badly for her to succeed, and he just didn't feel like she was going to get anywhere.

"Bah, for crying outloud she's only fourteen," the Ronin of Hardrock complained to himself, as he shook his head. "She's got plenty of time to shape up."

Hell, he was the one that needed the vacation. His job had him so uptight, he couldn't think straight anymore. When had he had a day where he had absolutely nothing to worry about?

Not in ages, and it was starting to show. He had lost weight, not a lot of weight, but it was definitely apparent the muscle mass he once had was just barely there. It wasn't like he had stopped exercising, because he hadn't, but the fact was with as much stress as he'd been under lately he had started to skip meals.

"The guys'd have a cow," he mused to himself, as he flopped down in his bed, not even bothering to look at what state his living room was in. Kento just had no time for anything other than work right now, he could only hope that things would settle down soon. After all, his parents couldn't stay away forever…They could try, but he was certain complaints from his younger siblings would prevent them from going that route.

The Ronin of Hardrock let out a frustrated sigh as his eyes slipped shut, and he fell asleep before he could undress. Not like it mattered to him one way or the other, especially with being past exhaustion.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

**Co-Written with Sifirela**

**Note: Arianna, Rin belongs to Siffy; **

**Other Note: Be big people, and just deal with the Sues; it's unavoidable in an anime that only had 39 episodes and 3 OVAS.**

* * *

_Throughout my life, I have never really felt like I belonged. No matter what I did, or how hard I tried, it never seemed to be good enough. It's hard living in a country where everyone looks the same, thinks the same, and acts the same…When you look different. I was raised to think and act to Bushido code, but no matter how strictly I adhered to it, it was never good enough I was always a 'gaijin', always a foreigner in the elders' eyes._

_I did everything for my family, but I never felt I belonged to it. I was just a person, just the only male heir to the clan to them. The only time I was ever appreciated was when I was a Ronin Warrior, when I was with the others. But, even after we were done with fighting Talpa and had gotten used to one another… They never knew who I truly was, still don't know…All, anyone seems to be able to see is the calm reserved person I was trained to be._

_Sometimes, I look back on my entire existence up until now and wonder…Was it worth surviving those fights to live like this? What was the point? We saved the world, saved so many, but why is it that everything I happened to be fighting for…Is now gone? Maybe, I should never have survived…_

_There would have been more honor in death…Than there is struggling in this existence. _

* * *

Sage Date opened his violet eyes a crack, took note that the sun was peaking through his curtains, swore, threw a book at his alarm clock and pulled the pillow over his head to drown out his element.

The blond swordsman refused to get up right now; he'd been battling the flu for three days. His immune system having been overtaxed due to stress these past few months...Well, now it wasn't much better.

"Fuck it, and the world," he growled out, as he shifted under his covers.

"Go away," Sage snarled at whoever happened to be knocking on his door. His eyes narrowed further when the banging increased only to stop abruptly as someone hollered for whoever it was to cut it out.

The swordsman tried to snuggle further down into his blankets, only to have his eyes open and breath hitch when his door opened and someone walked in...And then proceeded to flop down right on top of him.

He pulled back the covers to glare and demand only to let out a sigh, "Oh it's you."

The young woman gave a snort, "Nice to see you too. Especially after I just chased off your asshole editor."

He let out a chuckle, "Thanks. Oi, what are you a nurse?" He shoved her hand away when she touched it to his forehead.

"Get over the damn cold, and I won't have to be," she snapped back, "You're unbearable when you're sick."

"Thank-you," Sage sarcastically bit out, continuing to glower at her as if he were a very peeved cat.

She ignored his look, and held out a bottle that contained some form of medicine in it. He rolled his violet eyes and took it without complaint, then handed the container back to her, his look conveying, 'happy now?'

Recognizing the stare for what it was, the young woman reached over and pat his blond head, crooning, "Good kitty."

Sage glared daggers at her, and she sniggered, "Go back to sleep, crotchety."

The swordsman merely shook his head, and did just that, far too tired to put up a reasonable protest. The more he slept, the easier it would be for his body to recover from the cold sooner.

The young woman watched him for a moment, and then shook her head before walking back into the living room. Honestly, she felt like a mother instead of a best friend most days with him, but it couldn't be helped.

Her pale blue eyes re-adjusted to the lit room and she turned on his computer. He had a deadline to keep, and she was going to make sure he kept it. The rough draft of his latest novel had been penned and put onto paper. What was on the computer was merely the second draft. She had been typing up the remaining chapters for him, simply because their styles of writing were similar and his notes on the rough draft were pretty explicit.

She tucked a strand of nearly red hair back into place, and kept her eyes on the screen; she frowned when it showed that an e-mail had been sent.

"Not from that publicist again," she gritted out, then frowned at the address...It wasn't one she recognized. She opened it, not out of curiosity, only because he had told her to keep up with his mail, snail and electronic. "Who the hell is Ryo Sanada?"

"Friend of mine," Sage remarked from over her shoulder, trying not to grin when she jumped.

She gave him a look, clearly displeased with his appearance there, "You should be in bed."

"Was going to do that, but I can't waste my life lying in bed Taini," he commented in amusement, as he came up behind her and read over her shoulder.

"Ah so he wants to get together this weekend, okay that should be doable." The swordsman noticed something, "So you're the reason my manuscript file has gained KB, eh?"

Taini swatted at him, rubbing at her neck to ward off the shivers he managed to send down her spine; he knew she hated that and he did it anyway, what an ass.

"Mhm, and you owe me for it too," she shot at him with a smirk.

Sage let out a chuckle and then tiredly flopped down in a chair; he was tired, really he was. Sleep was the best way to recover from a cold, but if she was going to stay, it was worth staying awake. Having a little bit of company while you weren't feeling well, was as good a medicine as any other.

Taini blinked, as she turned around and looked at him, "Maybe you should put on some clothes Sage. Not that I don't _like_ you in boxers."

Sage gave a smug grin, knowing exactly how to piss her off, "I'm too lazy to get dressed. And ya I know, I thought I'd grace you with my presence."

To this the red-head gave a derisive snort, as she got up from the computer chair, and promptly walked out of the room. The Ronin of Halo was left baffled.

"Tai?" Sage called in confusion, letting out a yelp when she returned and dumped water in his face and then threw his robe on top of his head.

"The water was to cool you off, and the robe to cover you up," she calmly remarked before returning to her task of typing up his novel. Taini paused for a moment, and then added, "I already have a boyfriend. I don't need one on the side."

Sage gave her back a sour look, and she ignored it, her fingers rapidly gliding across the keyboard, only stopping when she turned the page or tried to read the notes he had left. He watched her, and as he did so his eyelids started to droop and he fell back to sleep.

Taini noticed the silence, and glanced over her shoulder at him, smiling a little when she saw that he was indeed asleep. She gave a shake of her head, and went back to work.

* * *

Arianna Beagals was a very productive editor in-chief for the magazine "Tweens,Teens,andKids" Magazine or more commonly known as the TTK magazine. She stepped into the foyer of the hotel building and smiled. Here, she was in Tokyo away on business and a small vacation.

She had been here before, her mother being Japanese and her going to school here half of her life. Rin, as most of her close friends called her, trekked across the floor and smiled at the front desk clerk. "Hello, I have a room under Arianna Beagels."

"OH yes, Beagals-san. Your room will be ready in a few moments. Oh yes, you have a message from a Miss Taini. She wants you to call her the first moment you become available."

"Thank-you very much," She smiled, and bowed slightly, her black hair falling down from the roughly put hair pin. "If you would be kind enough to inform me when my room is ready, it will be much appreciated." She smiled, and walked towards the lobby chairs.

She knew that they were very decent in their hotel management. She had worked in this place for four years until she graduated from Tokyo University with a Bachelors in Japanese/English/Creative Writing and Management.

Just under two years ago she had started her first job for the TTK magazine and worked her way up to Editor in Chief. Although her family was very wealthy, her father being a contractor, and her mother an heiress to a huge financial corporation, she moved out on her own, at seventeen as she graduated from High school, against her mother's wishes.

Rin worked her way up, feeling more accomplished unlike her snooty mother…Although her mother and father were very odd people, they still managed to stay together. Both came from wealthy families, both did not work a day in their lives, they all could not understand why she chose this path.

But she was now perfectly happy with her job and her life. Rin was paid a good amount, and could live day to day without worry.

She pulled out her phone and dialed an all-too-familiar number. "Hello, you stranger. Why am I not surprised you knew I was coming in to Tokyo from Chicago?"

"It's my job to know such things," Taini remarked, holding her cellphone to her ear. She finished typing up another page then saved the work she had done, and leaned back in the chair.

"Authors like myself, make it a point to know everything about everyone and everybody. I could have become a private detective."

"You couldn't detect hot tea if it were under your nose," Sage mumbled out, eyes closed. He yelped when she threw a book at him, knowing she had missed hitting him on purpose.

"You shut up cranky-pants," the red-head told him, and then corrected herself, "Cranky-boxers that is."  
She quickly turned her attention back to her friend, "So Rin how are you?"

"You mean you should be dubbed a stalker instead of an author." Rin said dryly before smiling, "I'm fine. Just arrived. Tired like hell, but I'm breathing and okay. I take it you're at your best friend's house. Your author-in-crime." Rin grinned.

"I _am_ a stalker, don't tell anyone," Taini quipped, and listened, "Ah, not a harrowing trip then, that's good. No, he has a very nice apartment that I'm currently sitting in. Working on his story because the idiot went and caught a cold."

"I didn't catch it on purpose," was the comment that came over the phone from the swordsman, before a loud umph followed. Taini now sat on Sage, one hand over his mouth, the other cradling the phone to her ear.

Rin smiled into the phone, before asking, "Sounds like you two are very busy. Are you sure you're just best friends?"

Taini's eyes went half-lidded, "Rin, I am still very happily dating Eiji. We've been together for two years, thanks. Sage and I are nothing more than friends."

"With benefits!" Sage got out having removed her hand from his mouth, and then burst out laughing at the look of complete outrage on Taini's face.

With some amount of newfound strength, the blond darted up once she moved to punch him and took off out of the room. He knew full well her cellphone reception would keep her where she was.

Taini's eye was dangerously twitching, "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch."

"No you won't, you love me too much," the Ronin of Halo said in a sing-song voice from the kitchen, where he was preparing a cup of tea. He chortled when he heard her growl.

Rin couldn't help but laugh, "He's nothing like he was in highschool, that's for sure." They had gone to high school together, with a mutual respect for each other as her family knew and supported Grandfather Date's Dojo.

They were prone to watching each other's back, just like how it was with her and Taini. Yet, Rin could not consider herself a 'friend' of Sage's, as they'd only really talked every now and then. For as long as she could remember, it had always been Taini and Sage, and both wealthy with imagination.

Rin had been the one to tame their imagination down to what was needed, hence why she had eyes for editiing. She helped Taini sell her first novel, which gained Taini near worldwide-fame. Rin was more of a hands-on editing person than a writer. She had hardly any imagination, just a working attitude.

"So where are we getting together this time, Tai? Didn't you say you wanted me to look over one of your novels?" Rin smirked.

"Yep, I have two actually, but want to change the ending on the other one," Taini remarked sitting back down in the chair, deciding to throttle Sage later. "I did tell you how well our blond friend's book did, didn't I? Best seller list here for three weeks straight, quite the accomplishment."

"And how about good o'le Shinjuku?" the red-head offered up, after thinking it over, "Then we can hit Yokahama for supper. I'm dying for real Chinese."

Taini had this problem of getting so involved with what she was writing she would forget to stop and eat; she took care of the house, all the normal chores, but completely skipped things that happened to be important for her own well-being.

So, she hadn't had a decent meal in days. Though, she had certainly made sure her sick best friend was eating properly…Yeah, okay maybe she mothered him a little too much.

"Alright I'll meet you there at three." Rin said with a smile before disconnecting the phone after saying goodbye.

"Bye," Taini hung up the phone and glowered at the blond, who was smirking at her very pleased with himself, "What benefits?"

"I get to admire you, you get to admire me," Sage ducked the notebook she threw at him, and grinned, "Ohh someone's violent today. ACK!"

She proceeded to tackle him, and she gave him a bored look, "That's the lamest benefit I've ever heard of." She got up, "I'll see you later Sage, go back and get some more sleep." She gave him a smile and then walked out the door.

* * *

The Ronin of Halo watched her leave with a sigh, before shaking himself and walking back into the kitchen. He had known Taini since he was eight-years-old, her having stood up for him and defending him at school when he'd been ganged up on by bullies.

She had asked him why he hadn't defended himself, and his response to that was that he had not been raised that way, and what was the point? Somehow, it had struck a chord in the girl, and she'd been at his side ever since.

"No matter what I do, I can't get rid of her," his lips were twitched upward in the smallest of smiles. Sage had always been an independent person, taught to deal with his problems by himself, and not to bother others with his emotions.

That being the case, he had done just about everything to make Taini go away. He had acted cold with her and at times said what could be considered hurtful things…It hadn't worked.

She had merely given him a bored look one day, and told him he needed to come up with a better argument to make her go away, and that she would leave when she felt like it, so he might as well deal with her presence.

He was still glad she hadn't left, that she had not been discouraged by his attempts to make her stay away from him. Because she had become one of his closest friends, and probably the only close friend he had aside from the other Ronin.

"Hell, I don't even have them anymore," he irritably grumbled, as he made himself a piece of toast. He wasn't really hungry, but he knew he needed to eat something.

Keeping track of the others had been difficult simply because of all the problems his life had felt the need to throw him recently. The only one he talked with regularly was Rowen, and before Ryo's e-mail today, he hadn't heard from the other three for a year-and-a-half.

Things just happened, you became an adult, and then you got saddled with issues you never had before. Or, in his case, the issues building up all his life finally came to a breaking point. The others had supported his decision, and had been there for him, but only for a little while before their own lives and own problems had become forefront.

And no, he did not blame them for that. As teenagers they had tackled momentous tasks, but fighting demons and living a life as an adult were two totally different battles. The latter of which was being fought alone…Even though, it was a fight that should never have to be fought in such a manner.

Sage crawled back into bed, and tried to get a little more sleep. In a day or two, he would be completely recovered, but he really needed the extra rest. At this point, Taini was his sanity and he was thankful for her and her strong resolve. It gave him some hope that things would get better.

…Of course, as is often the case, things tend to get worse before they improve…


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Welcome to Chapter Five, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Just where am I going with this? Well, you'll see soon enough._

_Lg_

* * *

Chapter Five:

By: LG

* * *

_I hate it…We went through everything together. Back during our fights with Talpa, and points after that…The four of them were always there for me. I know they had my back, and I had theirs, but it was more than that. If I needed to talk, they were there for me to talk to…Willing to listen, to do what they could to help. _

_So why?_

_Why can't I help them in the same way now? Why won't they let me? I can feel it… The bond between us never went away and for me it never went dormant like they claimed it did for them…I know they are struggling. I know our past comes back and slaps them in the face, especially when they have to deal with other outside issues. _

_Why the hell can't I help them? How is it that I'm so useless, right now when they are so desperately in need of help? I try and do all I can, but I just don't think it's enough. I wish I could do more, I want to do more to help them…I just don't know what else to do. And I'm afraid…Afraid of what will happen in the coming future, because something is coming, and as we are now…We don't stand a chance._

* * *

Vivid blue-eyes scanned the article currently lying on his desk, as his hand moved through it with a red pen. Some things he crossed out, others he underlined, or circled knowing they needed to be corrected. All in all, it took him about fifteen minutes to go through the article, twice.

Once done, he handed it back to the awaiting person, the one that had turned it in, who simply bowed and scurried away to go fix what was wrong. He rubbed a hand to his forehead and let out a sigh, before leaning back in his comfy leather chair.

Really, Ryo Sanada had to admit that there were certain perks to being in charge of the sports department. The nice cushy corner office, away from the annoying noises of the cubicles, was just one of said perks. Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and roses…Most of the people he had to work with, were…Rather incompetent.

"Yes Toya?" the Wildfire Ronin did not even need to look up to know that the eighteen-year-old had walked into his office.

Toya blinked in surprise a moment, and then queried, "Ah, Sanada-san? You wanted me to remind you about the appointment you have soon?"

"Go on Toya," Ryo encouraged, as he went back to typing up the email he'd been working on earlier.

"You are to meet with the magazine lady," the eighteen-year-old recited from his notes. "At the little café on-" That's about as much as Ryo listened to before completely tuning the youth out. He already had the appointment and details memorized, there was no need to listen to the kid drone on.

Toya was a nice enough young man, but you had to direct him every step of the way or he was unable to do anything. The kid just could not think outside of the box…Kid...Yeah, they weren't that far apart in age, and he was referring to Toya as a kid. Just went to show exactly how much growing up Ryo had done in the past few years…How much he had to do.

Ryo finally looked up at the eighteen-year-old just as he finished speaking, he regarded the brown-haired, brown-eyed youth for a moment before saying, "Thank-you Toya, I will be sure and remember."

Toya gave a bow of his head, and then exited the room, leaving Ryo to roll his eyes. The teen was nice enough, he just wished he wasn't so clueless, it'd make the job a lot easier.

Of course, not like Ryo had been all that different at that age, because really he hadn't been. Still and all, he managed to graduate highschool with a 3.5 grade-point average and began working for the newspaper right out of highschool. He staid with them part-time while going to college and getting a two-year degree in journalism.

It had only been last year that he was tapped to be editor-in-chief of the sports department. Since that time, he'd been able to implement a number of changes which had made the department run a lot smother.

On the home front, he had a nice place about a half-hour away from the job. It was easy for him to maintain, unfortunately there was simply no room for White Blaze in the city. But, the majestic tiger had taken a habit of slinking off after the Suzunagi incident, sometimes for as long as a month.

When Ryo had explained that he would be moving to the city on a more permanent basis then when he had been in highschool, he knew the tiger understood. Like all of them, White Blaze too had moved on with his life…

The Wildfire Ronin stopped that thought right there and shook his head…Move on with their lives? No, he didn't buy that in the others' cases at all. If anything he got the impression that their way of moving on was by not dealing with the past at all. It might have explained why they had fallen so far apart.

To his credit, Ryo had done all he possibly could to keep up with them…As trying to get into contact with them was highly difficult. They had habits of changing numbers, or email addresses and forgetting to send out the new information.

He had managed to contact Rowen about a month ago, after going on a search for the man's information. Really, it hadn't been too difficult. Ryo had simply called Rowen's mother, knowing the traveling reporter would have her son's information on hand.

The last time he had seen Kento in person was about six months ago, Ryo had taken a group out to lunch for a meeting and decided to have it at the Faun restaurant. He had tried several times before to catch the Ronin of Hardrock while he was there, but Ryo's timing had always been off by a few minutes.

Well, that time he had success…Most likely because he was on the job and really didn't have time to stop and talk with the man. He made it a habit of e-mailing Kento every other week, most often not getting a response until a week-and-a-half later.

He had tried contacting Sage about three weeks ago, but yet again the number he tried was disconnected. The Wildfire Ronin had been having a hard time trying to track down the blond swordsman.

It wasn't like he could ask the man's family as to his whereabouts, simply because they didn't know. Since Sage had become disowned, they had cared little about what he did with himself, just so long as he didn't try to come onto the property. For all intents and purposes, Sage Date was very much dead to his family…That still bothered Ryo a great deal; while his father wasn't around a whole lot (and never had been) the Wildfire Ronin couldn't imagine not being able to talk to him.

In any case, finding out where Sage had gone had not been easy. Now, what the young man had done with himself? That had been easy to figure out when the book hit the shelves, and staid on the best selling list for three weeks straight. Ryo had been able to track down the publisher and got, what he hoped was, Sage's current email address.

That was who he was drafting the letter to right now, actually, he had already sent a separate email to the swordsman, and was now drafting a letter to all four Ronin…He was hoping for a get together, well aware that Rowen would be in town soon for an extended project.

Ryo planned to talk about the get together with Cye in person, out of all the others it had been easiest for the Wildfire Ronin to find and keep in contact with Torrent's bearer. They saw each other once a week, sometimes more than that if Ryo was irritated at work, and went off for a 'walk.'

The Ronin of Wildfire gave the letter a once over, ran it through the spell-checker, corrected whatever showed up as being wrong, and then sent it…Not before he blind carbon copied four other email addresses. Task now complete, he leaned back in his chair, a small grin crossing his lips.

With any luck, they would all get the email…That gave him something to look forward to. Ryo abruptly cast a glance to the clock on the wall, and let out a sigh…He'd almost run a half-hour over now.

The young man quickly gathered his things, walked out, and locked the office door behind him. As he walked through to get to the outside, he waved at those that were still working. Once outside the Wildfire Ronin went into a jog managing to catch the bus just before it pulled out of the stop.

He slid down into a seat, and let out a loose breath. That had been close he really had no desire to wait another hour for the next bus. Ryo leaned back in the seat, and closed his eyes, it would be a bit before he had to get off…So, he could catch a quick nap. Yes, he was not concerned about being robbed…The last fool that had tried that, had gotten a quick lesson on why it was a stupid idea to piss off a martial artist.

* * *

Ryo grabbed his things and got off the bus, feeling a little better after his cat-nap. The young man walked into the apartment complex, giving a slight nod to the night watchman, who grinned and waved as he passed.

The Ronin of Wildfire's apartment was located on the third floor, right next to the stairwell, so he opted to walk the two flights to get there. The only thing was he would have to walk across the second floor to get to third; the building had been designed in a strange way, and quite sometime ago. He was certain even the owner of the building didn't understand why it was set up like that.

Ryo walked past apartment number 115 and as he did so the door popped open, and a head popped out.

"Oi!"

The Ronin of Wildfire slammed on the brakes and cast a glance over his shoulder, "What's wrong Sekhmet?"

The green-haired man gave him a lidded-look, "What was that email about?"

"Oh come on, it'll be a riot," the raven-haired man gave a grin. "You can put one up on them."

Sekhmet pursed his lips in thought, as he considered this, "True enough. It is genius, I will give you that."

"Consequence of hanging out with Rowen for so long," the Ronin of Wildfire explained, "I'll catcha later, I just got off work."

"I had guessed, later then," the man closed the door, leaving Ryo to shake his head in belated amusement.

The Ronin of Wildfire continued on his walk down the hall, trying hard not to chuckle. He'd found out the former Warlord of Venom was living in the same apartment complex about a year ago, about a month after the man had moved in…Since then, they'd talked off and on quite frequently.

In fact, Sekhmet had conned Ryo to go on outings with him and the others, meaning Dais and Cale. The first time had been a rather eye opening experience, as Dais could only hold so much liquor, and Cale had this way of rambling on when he was drunk.

Since that first time, the remainder had simply been very entertaining, which was probably why Sekhmet went with the other two to bars in the first place. As for Kayura? Ryo often talked with the Lady Ancient, she had contacted him the first week she'd been in the mortal realm.

Ryo had done what he could to help her out, so that she could get settled into a new a life. Luckily, Kayura had been a very quick learner, and what she couldn't figure out, she…Faked.

Like her birth certificate, her identification, the fact she had graduated highschool, now she had actually gone to college but only for a year. But with as smart as she was, faking the Bachelor's hadn't been all that awful, as she actually had the knowledge.

Once the Warlord's showed up, she had gone and done the same things for them…How was she capable of pulling it off? Kayura was quite capable, and seeing as how magic was more than on her side…Well, what could not have been explained logically, Ryo chose to blame on magic…Made life easier that way.

* * *

Ryo unlocked his apartment door, and walked inside; discarding his shoes, and slipping into a pair of slippers. He dropped his laptop bag by the door and walked into the kitchen. He needed some tea right now, he cast a side-ways glance at his answering machine, seeing that two messages were already on it.

The Ronin of Wildfire let out an amused chuckle, he was already aware of who was calling, and what they were calling in response to. He checked, and as the messages confirmed what he thought, he grinned.

"The guys are definitely going to be in for a surprise."

…Now whether they were going to appreciate it…Well he was hoping they'd be beyond shell-shocked and too dumbfounded to realize he'd set them up. If they did figure it out, well he'd be even more pleased with himself.

* * *

_A/n: About the apartment numbers: The numbers on the first floor start with 0; and if anyone can figure out the importance of the number being 115, they get a cookie._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Co-Written: Sifirela

* * *

Rin had gotten settled into her room, took some room service, such as coffee and a danish and walked out refreshed a quarter to three. She made it there with small time to spare and stood by a statue. She smiled, waving her hand at Taini, who slammed into her before glomping her.

"Hiya Rin!" Taini gave a happy chirp, then let her friend go, "Nice to see you!"

"It's been a very long time since we saw each other face to face. You lost weight again." Rin said disapprovingly.

"And you gained what I lost," Taini teased jabbing her friend in the side.

"Heyyy! Watch it." Rin said, plucking her friend on the nose. "So how are things with Eiji? Did he ever pop the question? I want to see you in a wedding dress with lots and lots of kids too!" She smirked at her best friend's face and snickered.

"The day he pops the question'll probably be the day Sage confesses he's totally and completely in love with me," Taini dryly remarked.

"Hey, there are chances that could happen, you know." Rin said with a grin.

"Things are fine," the red-head said with a shrug, "He's been gone a lot for most of this year." She gave a snort at Rin's comment, "Ya, and the mystical armor wearing guys from Yamano-san's book are going to come to life."

"Eiji and I enjoy each other's company, and he has not been intent on 'getting' things from me," Taini commented. "He loves me for who I am. It's enough for the both of us. Anyway, what about you? Any loooove interest?"

"None whatsoever. You know I never have any time for any real commitment. Hell I haven't even had a real date since I was in high school," She admitted. It was embarrassing but it was the truth, and she was known to stick with the truth. You wanted to ask questions she was going to give answers. "I doubt I'll ever fall in love anyway. Too complicating, takes too much of my time where I can be married to my work. So where shall we eat, oh skinny one?"

"You remind me of Hashiba," Taini commented with a shake of her head, "He is married to his work last I heard." She gave a grin, "This awesome little place called 'The Dynasty'; you'll love it."

"The Dynasty eh? Is it a new restaurant?" Rin asked, frowning a bit...Actually, it did sound a tad familiar.

"Silly, I rambled on about it throughout highschool," Taini chuckled. "I swore one day I'd get you to go with me. And today is that day, because I need me some Chinese soul food."

Rin laughed a bit and shook her head. Her friend was really a nutjob; but she loved her anyway.

* * *

The two talked off and on a little, as Taini slowly directed them to one of her favorite haunts. Finally, they came to a halt outside of a lavishly decorated building.

"So this is that place you've been talking about for ages. It looks quite expensive," Rin mused.

"Are you kidding, their prices are cheaper than any other restaurant in the ward," Taini said as she opened the door and ushered her best friend inside.

Rin snorted, "I am just saying that the building looks expensive. Beautiful building. Duh."

"I know I was being a smart-ass," Taini cheerfully replied, as they waited at the front to be seated by the host...Or hostess…No one happened to be there just yet.

Rin snorted and shook her head, "You're always a smart-ass regardless what mood you're in." The young woman glanced around the restaurant, really taken in by how gorgeous it was. She looked back to her friend, "So what is the real story behind you and Eiji? I can tell something is bothering you about him."

"What do you mean real story?" Taini wrinkled her nose, "There's really not that much to tell. I'm just bugged that he's been gone so much, he's been working so hard and the people he works for don't really appreciate it."

"You seem worried though... Has he called you lately?" Rin asked, finally seeing a hostess with flowing black hair and brown eyes.

"Not in four days," Taini murmured out with a sigh, "He said he might be unavailable for a few days...But I am a little concerned. Of course I have plenty of other things to worry about too."

"Like what?" Rin pressed on as they were seated and given menus and water. She sipped on her water and looked at her menu.

"Where would you like for me to start?" Taini let out a sigh, "You remember Mom and Dad were in a crash last year, right? Well, there were complications that just decided to show up. My little brother has pretty much taken a stay at home job so he can be with them twenty-four seven."

Taini paused for a moment, before continuing, "The bills were momentous...You really did me a favor editing that book and selling it for me...I've been able to pay off the debts owed, so that they're free of it. And of course I have plenty extra," she grinned but it faded. "Unfortunately, my main worry is Sage."

"Really?" she closed her menu and put it down, looking at her friend, "What's wrong with him other than his cold?"

Taini let out a strangled sigh, "He's a Date, and the only male heir. As such the family arranged a marriage for him. It was something that was decided on, knowing his great family, when he was around twelve, but they only informed him of it when he was seventeen. He had never met her, until three years ago, when they were formally introduced."

The red-head again paused, this time taking a sip from her water, "After the first few awkward months, they hit it off really well. She was a very nice woman, and seemed to genuinely care about him. I was a bit of relieved...I've always been fearful that his family would inadvertently destroy him in trying to cater to the old ways."

"But?" Rin pressed on, just as their waiter came up, but not bothering to pay him any mind.

A pained expression crossed Taini's face, "Unfortunately, my fears basically ended up being realized. It turns out she was very much in love with someone else, they got married and left the country. Not before she apologized to the Date elders, and her own clan elders, told them that while tradition was nice it just didn't work all the time and they couldn't force her to be a part of their sick twisted ways."

Her eyes closed, and she put her arms on the table, propping her head on top of her hands, "It all fell right on Sage. But instead of taking the insults he fired back, told the clan elders to shut up, or disown him. They made him feel like an outcast from day one, and since they had done it unofficially for so damn long they might as well make it official, or leave him alone."

"...They made it official," Taini moaned out, "He didn't care, he was so torn up by that point, he just didn't give a damn anymore. It is killing him not to talk to Satsuki though, he misses her."

"So, basically, the good o'le best friend has been trying to help him pick up the pieces, because Rowen is in New York, and I have no idea where the hell his other friends happen to be," she finished, "Other than some Ryo character who contacted him by e-mail today." Of course, the name did sound familiar to her ears but she was simply horrible with names, she was better with faces.

* * *

Kento had heard everything, a frown coming over his face as he stood there…He had seen these two before, seven years ago before their graduation.

Coming up to them to take their order, well he forgot that he was supposed to say something and allowed them to continue talking. He felt his hands lower as he heard the woman on the right of him discussing one of his friends he hadn't seen in a long time.

Now, hearing this information…The reason for not hearing much from the blond made sense…He had been aware of Sage cutting ties with the family, but he had never heard the full details before.

The Ronin of Hardrock shifted his weight, and then cleared his throat to announce his presence.

Rin frowned after Taini had finished speaking, then jumped when she heard the clearing of a throat. She looked up to see a man with ash-blue hair and gray blue eyes. He smiled kindly and bowed.

"Hello and good afternoon, may I offer you the Special of the House, or would you like to order something different?" His mind didn't hear him speaking nor did he hear the women order, he just scribbled down what he thought he heard as his thoughts turned over about Sage.

Taini thought it over for a minute, before saying, "And the Peter Piper Pepper Special." Just to see if she'd get a reaction. She had been able to tell that his thoughts had slipped, and now she wanted to see how much they had

"Sorry miss but we don't have that." Kento said, collecting his thoughts.

"Mhm," Taini gave a nod, she knew he had heard every word of what she had just told Rin. But that wasn't what got her; it was the fact that he looked very familiar.

The red-head reached into her purse pulling out a notepad and pen, then wrote something down, tearing the sheet of paper off and handing it to him. She then put the pad and pen back into her purse, and leaned back into her seat.

Kento read over the number a few times, looking to the woman, then the paper and back again several times before he nodded and put it in his pocket. He double-checked to make sure their orders were correct and then walked off into the back.

"Yes he got a phone number, and no it wasn't mine," Taini commented before her friend could ask.

Rin snorted, "I was going to ask. And say, wow you move fast without Eiji knowing."

"Haha," Taini gave a snort, "Ya there ya go, I keep Sage around, and just pick up guys...Before you know it I'll have my own personal harem."

"Riighht. Can I join? Maybe I'll find a hot guy to keep me happy...For about two minutes. Guys are just so meant to procreate and leave you alone. Men, ya need them if you want babies, ---then again you really don't need them for that anymore." Rin said with a laugh.

Taini chortled and shook her head, "Ya...Okay no more talking about this kind of stuff before I eat. I'm liable to be sick."

"Agreed," She said, as she picked at the appetizers that had just been delivered.

* * *

The Ronin of Hardrock finished his shift a little early, leaving Yun to take over the rest. Kento sat down in one of the office lounge chairs, managing to stifle a yawn. The days just seemed to get longer and longer the more time went on, oh well that was life he suspected.

As he sat there, the Warrior of Strength pulled out the number the red-headed woman had given him. He studied it for a few moments, and turned it over in his hand as he thought it over. He then shrugged, pulled out his phone and dialed it.

* * *

Sage probably should've rested some more, but he was getting tired of being bed ridden; so he had begun to work on the novel himself; save for the typing on the keyboard and the hum of the machine there was no other sound. Until the phone rang, Sage picked it up and placed it to his ear not bothering to glance at the caller id, rather absorbed with the writing...He continued with his typing as he did this, "Date, Sage. Who is it?"

"You didn't look at the caller ID, did you? And you've changed your number again. Have all the fans really gotten to you or something? Mr. BestSelling Author," Kento queried in amusement.

"Kento?" He nearly dropped the damn phone; and he actually pulled it down to check the caller id to make sure he wasn't hearing things; nope it was Kento; he placed the phone back to his ear. "No, Yes. Yes...The first one I wrote under a pseudonym, that didn't work. As a few figured out who I was...Like 20 or so. Calling me at odd hours, it was ridiculous."

He leaned back into the chair, "That's why I didn't bother this time. The other reason for the change in number? Ah, my cell phone took a dive off the interstate." More like he had thrown the damn thing out the window due to frustration. "What's up? How did you get this number?"

"A certain stalker that you are best friends with apparently has given me the number," Kento said with a chuckle. Then queried, "I heard you heard from Ryo?"

The Ronin of Hardrock had picked up his keys, and began to twirl them around his finger. As he was twirling them, they became closer and smacked him in the nose. "Ouch..." he rubbed his nose and dropped the keys.

"Taini," Sage grumbled out, rolling his eyes before sniggering at what he heard. "That was graceful Kento. Ya, I did. He's getting a couple of days off after he gets off work tomorrow, and wanted to know if I was around for a 'get together'. I think he's bored."

"He needs a one night stand with a woman who knows how to give a bored man exciting night; someone who can put him in his place. Someone with a whip. Hmm actually, that sounds like your kind of woman," Kento heard some coughing and clearing of the throat on the other end of the phone.

"You're a kick in the ass Kento," Sage shook his head, "And what about you, heard from your woman, lately?" This was of course in reference to Cye…And, yes Sage had become a bit of a smart-ass in his adult years.

Kento feigned a sniff, "No, that bastard took all my money and ran to have an affair with a medicine woman he so loves."

Sage threw back his head and laughed, which he diverged into a hacking cough, "Ugh lousy cold." He rubbed at his forehead a minute, before reaching over and popping a few pills. "So who got custody of the kids?"

"Hmm...You can have them if you want. They're a reallll pain in the ass." Kento chuckled, then frowned at the horrible coughing he heard, "I take it your sick?"

"Yeah, it's the flu," Sage responded, "Got it about three or four days ago, hasn't exactly left yet."

"Well normally it takes a week or two for the flu to go away. So when's your next 'best-seller' going to come out?" Kento snickered. Of all the things Sage could have been, it was still so funny to hear that he had become an 'author.'

"Nah it'll be gone by tomorrow," Sage assured; even though he had not used the armor in quite sometime, the bolstered ability to heal was still very much there. If he got sick the cold was gone within a few days, actually came in exceedingly handy. "Working on the sequel right now, and it'll come out, whenever Taini pressures me into giving it over to her, so she can send it to my publisher."

"I still can't imagine you a writer," Kento said, "So when does Ryo want to get together? Knowing him he's e-mailed me too....That's something I haven't been able to check in two weeks..."

"Oh man I'd hate to see your inbox," Sage said with a snigger, "Mm, Saturday around two or so...And where we first met as Ronin." Sage let out an amused chuckle, "He's a smart-ass."

"As long as he doesn't get his ass kicked by a low-level demon I'm fine, and get twirled around like a fan. Oh and screaming out: "Listen to me everyone before it's too late." Retard needs to work on his lines," Kento shook his head.

Sage chortled at hearing this and gave up on writing anymore, "I don't know, what about Rowen's smooth line there? Man, I wanted to die."

"And don't comment about me being upside down, that was NOT intentional," He added.

"You were waiting for your hair to explode into an umbrella to save you. It's easy enough to get mixed up as one though. Your hair being like a helmet and all shaped like one," Kento snickered. He had to go there Sage had foolishly brought it to his attention.

"Oh yeah, and what about you huh? If I remember right, you got you ass kicked just like the rest of us did," Sage remarked.

"Actually, I clobbered you remember? Because I thought you were the spider-wick man."

"Oh ha, ha," Sage gave a snort, "At least I didn't jump off a building without an armor. I would have pushed you though, you should have told me what your plans were."

"Hey I was being reckless that day," Kento said with a chuckle. "I'm grateful to this day I didn't die."

"Ya, you were behaving like Ryo for a minute, we forgave you...Everybody has had those moments at one point or another," Sage sniggered out.

"Yeah yeah yeah," Kento said in dismissal. "Okay well, I have to go pick up Chun Fa from her karate class. She's now thinking she's some kind of heroine that can kick some ass. She's so like me when I was that age...Someone needs to smack her upside her head...I think I'll do that later on in the car."

"Have fun Kento," Sage chuckled out, "I'll talk to you later, good hearing from you."

"I will. And hey bud, if you ever need to talk, ya know my number; don't hesitate to call or I'll kick your ass for not calling me," Kento replied in a stern voice.

"Yes ma'am," Sage snorted into the phone.

"Watch it, Woman," Kento said with a chuckle. "Byebye Sagie-wagie." He snorted at Sage's groan.

The swordsman of Halo rolled his eyes, "Goodbye Kento," he then hung up the phone.

"Touuchy." Kento chortled as he clicked the phone off. "Now to check my e-mail, and then pick up the crabby teenage sister."

* * *

"Boy I'm stuffed. They have some really good food here." Rin said with a grin. "So where to next?

"That they do," Taini agreed, "Mm, not sure, you pick where we go next there's gotta be something around here ya want to do."

"I dunno, back to the hotel so I can just relax a bit? This girdle is cutting into my stomach…" She grumbled.

Taini chuckled, "Resting sounds wonderful. Let's go." She laid down the money for the bill, and got to her feet.

Rin and Taini made it back to the hotel room around fifteen minutes after eight. Rin was quick to grab clothes she had laid out and disappeared into the bathroom, coming back into her comfortable attire: sweats and a big t-shirt opposed to the office clothes of slacks and a nice blouse.  
In her absence, Taini merely lounged on the bed, waiting for her friend to finish changing. The red-head permitted her mind to wander, not really intent on letting it focus on one certain thing. She looked up when Rin came out, "Better?"

"Much," the woman beamed, "This feels so good. It's not home, but it beats being anywhere near stupid typical snooties." She jumped into the bed and stretched sprawling out next to her friend.

Taini yawned, "Mhm. Being away from snobs is always good, always."

"Yep. You're right; it is. Growing up around them at least made me know what they look like; fake and all," Rin grinned. "So, where do you stay at most of the time anyway?"

"I'm about to give up and just move in with somebody else, I'm barely in my poor apartment, and it shows," Taini grumbled in complaint. "Same place I had when I moved out and into an apartment for high school."

"Well I'm staying here for about six months, would you like to stay for a while?" Rin asked, tilting her head.

"How about we see in another month? That's when my lease is supposed to run out," Taini remarked as she mulled it over.

"It's only up to you if you want to do it," Rin said with a chuckle. "Be like old times. Maybe you can invite Sage for a little sleep-over like one time. Remember? We had him covered in make-up that he had to explain to his mother the next morning."

Taini burst into laughter, "Oh man that was gold. Poor Sage...And the look on his mother's face!"

"It was priceless," Rin sniggered. "I do believe I have pictures of it too." She got up, walked to her luggage and rummaged through it until she got a photo album. A very large grin was on her face, as she brought it over.

"Tadah!!" She held the book in her hands.

"Oh gosh, I don't believe it," the red-head gave a laugh as she sat up to look through the album with her friend.

"Ooh, I'm so scanning this and sending it to his email box....He is online now right? Didn't you say he normally checks his e-mail at this time." She chuckled evilly and took her laptop out and her portable scanner from her desk that she set it up on and scanned it, and hit send...

* * *

Sage blinked, having just received a new message, but he could not place the email address. He lightly shrugged his shoulders, and then opened it, letting out a yelp, "Where the hell did she find this?"

Rin snickered, sending another picture of him dressed in girly clothes with makeup, plus him drunk down to his little tidy whities.

Taini let out a low moan and flipped open her phone not even bothering to look at the id, "Hold on," she then handed it to Rin, "He wants you."

Sage's eye was twitching in aggravation, "Where did you get those?!"

"Okay okay calm down, Sagelita. Where do you think I got them?" Rin let out an amused laugh, "In case you don't remember, that little birthday party Taini threw for me, you got plastered so we took some memorable pictures. And for old time sakes decided to share the little discovery of that memory with you."

Sage's eye went back to twitching, "You two really are evil incarnated."

"Oh why THANK you." Rin chortled, "I love you too, Sagie-wagie."

Sage rolled his eyes skyward, "Leave me out of the reminiscing episode from here out please, thank-you." He hung up.

Rin snorted and handed the phone back to her friend. "Someone is a bit cranky." It didn't matter though, she could imagine perfectly the look on his face when he'd seen the photos, that was all that mattered.

Taini frowned, "Did he sound distracted?"

"Slightly. Why?" Rin asked.

"I'm nosey," Taini teased, before falling silent...Hell he could have been distracted by anything..."He's probably working on the novel; he's crankier than normal when he is sick, and twice as much when he's sick and writing."

"Do you want to go see what he's up too? I know you worry about him a lot," Rin tilted her head to study the red-head better.

"I can't baby-sit him all his life," Taini chuckled, giving a tired sigh. "He's fine, I'll stop by and bother him tomorrow again."

"I just want to be lazy for a bit," Taini murmured out, closing her eyes, and then her phone rang again, she glanced at the caller id and frowned, before picking it up, "Eiji?" She went silent as she listened to him speak, "Are you okay?"

There was laughter from the other end of the line, assurances that yes he was fine, and that he was sorry because he was sure he had caused her to worry. She said nothing further, "All right then, bye." She closed the phone, and tossed it carelessly onto the floor, making sure it was on vibrate.

"Are things getting that tense between you two?" Rin looked at her friend with concern.

"I just don't want anyone else calling me, I have a migraine," Taini mumbled out.

"Riightt," she could tell her best friend was worried, sad, and just plain exhausted, not from Sage alone, but also worrying about Eiji. Rin wasn't quite sure what was going on but she had a feeling sooner or later she would find out.

Taini remained for a little while longer before noting the lateness of the hour, telling her friend that she'd see her later, and heading 'home' for the night.

* * *

It was almost midnight, and those that were about this hour paid her little mind. She was very uninteresting; they only saw what they wanted her to see. If they could see past the illusion they would find the pale silver eyes scanning them, and the crimson-streaked hair that fluttered lightly in the wind.

They couldn't see it though, and so the normals, as she called them, ignored her. None even paused to eye her, her figure completely wrapped up in a trench-coat minus the illusion she had laid. It didn't matter though, none of it did.

A chuckle escaped her lips, as she walked along. It had been quite sometime, but she finally had a new playground. So far it had proven to be interesting, and all too soon, a feral smile crossed her lips, it would become exceedingly entertaining.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven:**

**Co-Written with Sifirela**

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and early, well maybe a little too early. In fact, it dawned far too early…So much so that Kento had actually pulled a Rowen. Meaning, Hardrock's bearer woke up, rolled over, and went right back to sleep.

Right now, the Ronin of Hardrock was walking down the alley-way to get to the street he needed to be on within 15 minutes. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair and continued on his path. He looked at his watch and as he did this he ran hard smack dab into someone, causing the person to fly into the stand of melons.

"Oh Sorry! Sorry!" He helped the old man up and paid the cranky mellon-seller before deciding it might be a good idea to make his way back, coming to the realization that he was not where he was supposed to be. Hearing a laugh behind him he turned and looked over his shoulder, and quirked an eyebrow.

"Ryo? Is that you? What happened to your mullet!" Kento said this in a rush, complete surprise showing in his face.

"I got a hair cut once I could afford one," Ryo chuckled out in amusement, arms crossed in front of his chest.

The young man had gotten a cut which made his normally long hair exceedingly short, though he still had the shaggy bangs. For some reason, no one had been able to get rid of them it would seem he was stuck with them for a while.

The Ronin of Wildfire had also filled out, partly due to the fact he'd stopped growing, mainly due to the fact that while he was working at a newspaper he still kept very much in shape. "How ya been Kento?"

"I see," Kento snorted and grinned, "I've been better, could use a heavy stiff drink before heading to work but heh, I'll do that afterwards."

"Ah the family has driven you to sanity have they?" Ryo chuckled out…Yes, he was implying taking in large quantities of heavy alcohol was a sane thing to do before dealing with the people Kento ended up having to counsel.

"Other than the need for a drink, how's life?" Wildfire's bearer queried. Inwardly, he was frowning taken aback by how much weight the Ronin of Hardrock had lost, if he kept it up, he'd become as transparent as Rowen and Sage. It wasn't something he was expecting, yet he knew better than to question it now. That would be for another time, Ryo knew how defensive the Warrior of Strength could get.

"Meh it goes, bro. It goes. How's yours? Haven't spoken to you in ages, where ya been hiding?" Kento grinned; not at all caring about the time, he could be late for work for once. It wouldn't kill him.

"My nice new corner office," Ryo answered, before he shrugged his shoulders, "It's all right. I've been really busy; I now have the ENTIRE sports section to review the articles and stuff on...While still writing my column." He stretched, "Week and a half ago, we, as in most of the newspaper, went to one of the islands for a bit of r and r, had a good time. But it was a bit boring, newspaper people are really very uninteresting."

He took pause, slyly adding. "Not as interesting as say...Four guys I know that I spent my teenage years with trying to save the world," Ryo commented, jokingly adding, "Only to have it damned by super corporations and their monopolies."

"Hmm I wonder who you could be talking about?" Kento gave a snort, and then said, "Well thankfully I'm off on weekends. Have you gotten in touch with Cye, by chance? We talked last face-to-face about two months ago. I tried calling just the other day, but he never picked up."

Ryo gave a grin, instead of answering he asked, "Wanna make a quick stop before you head in to the job?"

"Sure. It'll help get my head together, I hope anyway. No mothers wearing army boots now are there?" Kento teased.

"Oh ho, funny hot dog man, very funny," Ryo chortled as he lead Kento down a side-street and towards an old shop, "Just little old ladies ready to chase you with brooms."

He sniggered, before opening the door and walking inside.

* * *

Once in, he cheerfully called out, "Cye! Look what I found! Do you think the people in my apartment will let me keep it?"

"Ryo you couldn't even keep Blaze," Cye began, and then turned around, blinking, "Well, I'll be. Hullo Kento."

"You jerk. You mean to tell me you've been hiding out here. And never contacted me?" Kento took Cye by the collar and shook him slightly until there was a broom that hit him upside the head. "Ow!"

"You, stop touching my employee! If you're unhappy about something take it up with me," Grandma had the broom poised over her head ready to strike again, glaring at Kento from behind thick-rimmed glasses.

Often she forgot to wear them, if it weren't for Cye, she probably wouldn't wear them at all. She continued to stare down the Ronin of Hardrock, fully prepared to advance at a moment's notice.

"Grandma," Ryo cheerfully greeted, moving to diffuse the old woman before she thwacked Kento again, "How are you today?"

"I told you I was working in Tokyo the last time we talked, and further you changed your phone number," Cye told his friend in a bored tone.

"Oh yeah," Kento laughed, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head, "Oops."

"Ohh! Hello handsome!" The little old woman made sure her hair was in its right place and batted her eye lashes at him. "I'm fine. And yourself?" She may have been old, but she definitely didn't mind staring at the young men, she was old not dead.

When her back was turned, Cye made a gag-like face at their display; and then returned his attention to Kento, "I had planned to bother you, but I keep stopping by the ruddy restaurant and you're never there. I had plans on trashing your apartment tonight, Ryo just ruined that."

"Can't help it, I enjoy being a home-wrecker," Ryo commented, saying to Grandma, "Doing well, ma'am. Don't let tall over there make you work too hard; if he does you be sure and tell me. I'll have a 'talk' with him."

The Ronin of Torrent knew she wasn't looking at him and gave Ryo the dirtiest look he could muster; Wildfire's bearer merely grinned in response to this. To all their surprise, the old woman smacked Cye upside the head without having to look back at him, and Kento blinked, "Wow, good aim."

"I have an eye on you, you young troublemaker," Grandma said looking at Cye with a crazy eye before giving Ryo sweet ones. "You're just so cute. You need to fatten up though! You're skin and bones." She said bowing.

Then she turned her gaze to Cye, "Don't dawdle too long, you lazy thing. My feet are aching and they need a massage and I need you to put an ointment on my bunions. They're killing me."

"Yes ma'am," Cye said shaking his head, saying to Kento, "I'll talk to you later."

"Ya, same for me, I have this bad feeling my phone is going to ring," Ryo eyed it with distaste, "Goodbye, you two I'll be back to check in later if I am able." He walked on outside to wait for Kento.

The Ronin of Hardrock chuckled, "All right, then Cye, hold ya to it."

Torrent's bearer was frowning after the man, hell if Ryo hadn't brought him in here then Cye would have never been able to recognize Kento. The Ronin of Trust found it a little hard to take, seeing as how they'd spoken face-to-face not more than two months ago. Granted, he was aware Hardrock's bearer had been dropping weight, but this was drastic…And a little disconcerting.

"Everything all right Cye?" the little old woman queried of her employee, "You know I was only kidding about the feet thing, right?"

"Mm?" the bearer of Torrent snapped his attention back to the present and chuckled, "I know, Grandma, and don't worry about it, things are fine."

…Cye might have the predisposition to be honest and truthful due to his virtue, but that didn't mean he couldn't convince himself that a lie was the truth.

* * *

Once outside, Kento cracked up finally letting out the laughter he had been holding in, "Cye had that one coming to him."

The Wildfire Ronin shook his head in belated amusement, but did not bother to add a comment.

"Anyway, I best head on to the school. My butt is vibrating," Kento said grabbing his phone, and glancing at it. He made a face and then put it back in his pocket.

Ryo chortled at that comment, "Talk to you later Kento." He waved goodbye to his friend. The Ronin Leader watched his friend walk away with a slight sigh, before grabbing his cell as it rang.

There was no need for him to look at the caller id, "Toya, I'm already on my way to the meeting, just keep your shirt tucked in." He then flipped his cell shut, shook his head and headed off to where he was supposed to be.

* * *

Rin flopped on her side, the phone lying on the nightstand ringing off the hook, she moaned in her sleep and took the phone in her hands. Her eyes were barely open, and her voice came out in a growl, "What the hell do you want?"

She listened to the voice on the other end, and said, "I got it, it's right here. I'm going to meet up with the chief at ten for brunch, and then we discuss what we are going to put into the magazine." Rin listened again, and narrowed her eyes, "Don't give me this shit now Ilene, you know that I can't do that. Okay, now do it yourself, you're my assistant you shouldn't need my every guidance on every whim you get. Stop, breath, and move forward and do the best you can. Now shut up and let me sleep." She shut off the phone and slammed it down.

The young woman groaned again when her cell phone buzzed right off the table. She pulled the covers over her eyes and pulled the pillow over her head. "Shut up shut up...let me sleep!" She said in a mantra-like-tone.

It didn't help. Damn phone....Whoever invented the phone, better be grateful they were dead because should she have met them on the street she would have put a bell on their heads and rang it. See how they liked it. She looked at the time and flew up, everything crashing down as she fell out of bed.

"Son of a bitch!" It was going on 10 at this moment.

"This isn't my morning!" She screamed as she tossed on some clothes from last night, still slightly wrinkled. She ran out the door with minutes to spare and ran down the street, one heel in her hand, and one on her foot, hopping like a bunny as she did three things at once.

People that were gathering around the walk-way were having a small show for the morning, and some were muttering "baka gaijjin." She ignored them. Finally, the red-walk-light turned green and she ran in her heels, almost falling down twice before she got to her destination.

Rin was 10 minutes late---shit... _'Oh well._' She sighed through her nose as she tried catching her breath, her hair wind-swept and her clothes wrinkled...How the hell did she sleep so late?

Ugh, this guy better not be a pushover or she would have a thing or two to say to him. Rin was simply lucky enough that her assistant had given her a description of the guy; with that info it was easy to locate him.

He was the only one wearing slacks, a comfortable shirt, and what had to be comfortable shoes. He was not at all the stiff professional-type, at least, he sure didn't look it.

She slid into the seat after catching his attention, by clearing her throat and bowed, "I am so very sorry for being late, Sanada-san. I—er--slept in this morning."

"Don't worry about it, Beagals-san," Ryo assured, "I was told you got in yesterday, jet leg can be a real pain." He leaned back in the chair, adding, "Take your time, order breakfast; and then we can talk. I'm not in a rush."

"Thank-you," she said breathing in and out. _'From now on I'm wearing running shoes over here. These heels hurt like hell._'

* * *

Rin ordered some breakfast and began to eat slowly; conscious of her every move, as well as the young man. He had pulled up a newspaper to read, or maybe he had just done that to avoid staring at her.

She noticed that he was drumming his fingers on the table with his freehand. His fingernails looked bitten down to the cuticle, except the ends were blunted; obviously he kept them very short.

He was tanned skinned, and even though he was wearing a loose fitting shirt, he was definitely built. His hair was cropped short, his bangs flopping to each direction as if they had a mind of their own.

The last thing Rin took notice of was his eyes. They were a beautiful blue, she had no idea what color to call them, but they were bright. She looked down at her plate and stifled a yawn. He was cute, she would give him that; but that meant nothing to her. Though, so far he had come across as exceedingly polite.

She finished the last bit of food, and pushed the plate away, "So, Sanada-san. I hear you have been editor-in-chief for a few months now for the Sports Section?"

"Yes," Ryo gave a nod, folding the paper up and laying it down, "Wasn't what I was expecting when the boss called me in to the office, normally when he calls you in...Its because he's going to sack you, not promote you. Hard to say who was more stunned me...Or my colleagues...Actually no, it was definitely the people I work with."

"I wonder why? From what I hear you're an exceptionally great editor with some real skills to back it up. Weren't you scouted in your high school days?" Rin asked, taking out a notebook and her laptop. She was very thankful for wireless satellite; otherwise, she would have been in real trouble.

Ryo was a little bit surprised that she knew so much, but impressed she had done her homework, "Yeah I was; apparently even though I maintained a generous A-B average, I was very talented with a football."

Here he was being modest, he'd been on the highschool team for four years, and the last two years he'd been team captain. Further, he had helped his school win the league, not a meager accomplishment in the slightest.

"But I also had a knack for commentaries, and they seemed to appreciate that, so walla here I am," Ryo chuckled in amusement

"I see, very interesting," Rin took pause, and studied him for a good long moment, "I think I do remember you now. Your blue eyes are not that hard to forget. You were in that class with that Mouri fellow. Now I recognize you."

Ryo gave a chuckle, "Yes, Beagals-San. In Math, I sat two rows back from you, seat nearest to the window."

Wildfire's bearers mind was like a steel trap, he forgot very little; while he could act oblivious he was anything but.

"Memory like an elephant," she blinked at him, "I couldn't have told you where you sat even if I tried to remember. And you can call me Rin, I happen to not like Beagals-San. It makes me feel old and like a dog. How I was blessed with such a name, I will never know."

"All right then call me Ryo, Sanada-san makes it sound as though you're talking to my father, I'm not _that_ old just yet," he chuckled in amusement. "And sides, your last name can't be as bad as some of them out there. Some people don't even give out their last name; like that girl you were friends with. I don't think I ever heard her last name mentioned...ever," Ryo remarked with another chuckle, as he added, "Which is an interesting thing because she was best friends with a friend of mine."

"Probably still is too," he thoughtfully mused.

"Ah yes, Sage-san. Actually, I should call him Date-san because I'm not on that type of speaking terms; not like Taini is," Rin said with a chuckle. "That song it's a small world after all comes in mind when I actually think about it. Here I thought you were going to be another stuck-up tight-wad who didn't have a sense of humor in their body."

"Ordinarily, I left that sort of thing to Sage," Ryo chuckled out, "Of course, he couldn't have ended up more different. Besides that, being a corporate asshole just doesn't appeal to me."

"So then Rin," Ryo queried, as he decided it was time to get to the point, "What can't I do for you?"

"What can't you do for me?" Rin repeated tilting her head. "You mean what you can do for me?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Meh sorry, not enough caffeine this morning, hold on," he picked up his phone, a lidded-look on his face, "Now, what do you want Toya?"

Ryo listened and the bored look on his face only deepened, "Get Shina to do it for you, if you're that helpless. I'm in a meeting, bye." He then hung up, cheerful demeanor now back, "Now where were we?"

"I see you're not that excited about your job when you talk to them," Rin said with a smile. "Anyway, I guess you can say we need your expertise in our kids' sports section. It's lacking and kids' parents are complaining for the lack of 'exuberance' in the sports and outdoors stuff."

She heaved a sigh, "They're claiming we're getting too glamorous for them. Only having kids look at beauty, instead of sports and recreation, you know things to do. So we need your expertise. "

"Ah I see," Ryo said with a nod, "Well you tell me what plans you had in mind, and I'll see if I can't help you tweak them a little."

"You're probably going to cringe hard when you see this," Rin pulled out a manila folder that was full of paper, which was bound together with three thick rubber bands. She handed him the paper, "I can't go through this because, frankly, it bores me to tears. I love sports, don't get me wrong. They're really great to put your body in shape, but the way my staff writes it seems to be written in a fiction story sort of way. People want facts, so that kids won't get the big idea that in one day they can make four winning baskets in a game."

Rin paused for a breath and then explained, "My staff is filled more with women who think only of fashion. They need to be fired, but the higher-uppers think it's a great way to sell clothes. Morons I tell you that."

"No worries, I know how it is, we have to please our advertisers here too," Ryo commented, as he took off the rubber bands.

He glanced at the first piece of paper, and tried hard not to laugh, "Uh huh cheerleading was the best they could do?" He cleared his throat, and put it down, save that one to look at it later.

"Mm, baseball..." Ryo scanned through it thoughtfully, picked up the notepad he had brought with him and started to make some notes.

He paused, closed his eyes and thought, then marked something else down, "Mm," he wrote down something else, and then put the file down.

Ryo abruptly looked up at Rin, as if he had forgotten she was there, "That ones not half-bad."

"Hey don't mind me. You don't need to tell me what's bad and what's not. Granted there are some things in there that are beyond pathetic and some that are semi-good. But go ahead I have a phone call I need to make. My phone has been vibrating since I got here."

Ryo gave a nod to Rin before she walked out, and went back to his task; this stuff was rather easy for him.

* * *

"I really can't stand you, you know," Taini remarked to the blond man that walked at her side. "You get better so fast, it's ridiculous."

Sage gave her a sly smile, "Does this mean you are jealous of me?"

"You wish," she said with a snort, as she continued to walk down the sidewalk with him.

Sage had awoken that morning feeling perfectly well, and was aware he needed some exercise; so now they were walking. Of course, Taini had spent most of the walk with her cellphone to her ear, listening to the annoying ring, and then someone picked up, "Hey Taini, what's up?"

"Finally, she answers," Tai commented to the blond swordsman, as she then spoke into the phone, "Not much, I dropped off the manuscript at your place. Just wanted to check and see how you were doing. Jet lag can be a bitch."

"Kinda like you," Sage teased, earning an elbow in his ribs, "Ow!"

"Oh I'm fine, I'm just meeting with a client. Are you two walking downtown? You two can come join us at---" Rin looked up at the café's sign and told Taini the name. Then, she added, "I think Miss Date would love to come see someone."

"MISS?" Sage screeched in annoyance, "Give me that damn phone!"

The red-head laughed and held it away from him, scolding, "Use your own." She then redirected her attention to her phone conversation, "Sure I know where that is."

"As a matter of fact, look across the street," Taini pulled the phone away from her ear, and waved to her friend, "Hi!"

"Ah! Okay." Rin smirked and waved back. She hung up her phone and grinned, "Hi Tai-chan. Miss Date."

Sage's eye twitched, "Y-you..."

Taini elbowed him in the gut again, remarking to Rin, "Hello, so where's this client, he good looking?"

"You already have a boyfriend," Sage commented rubbing at the sore spot.

"Yes and I keep you on the side, and I hooked up with someone else last night," Taini commented in a bored tone, then chortled at the look on his face.

"He's good looking and Miss Date's type. I think she'll fall for him," Rin ignored Sage's hands making a 'choking' movement and walked inside the café. "Sorry for being gone so long Ryo. This is my friend Taini and this," she motioned to Sage, "I'm sure you'll remember this rat-infested haired helmet-head."

"Oh hell, now I remember your damn name," Taini fumed at the raven-haired man, yep she remembered him perfectly now.

Ryo blinked in surprise at this, and then grinned up at the Ronin of Halo, "Well Sage you're keeping an awful lot of female company these days."

The blond man smirked at this, and put his arms around Taini and Rin, "Jealous there Ryo?" He then quickly removed himself from both women before they could act.

Of course, he did not move fast enough as Rin took her purse and smacked Sage over the head, "Touch me again and you die, Hairball."

"Come on Rin, you know you love me," Sage teased with a chuckle.

Taini merely offered a small grin, this was the best mood she'd seen Sage in...In months.

* * *

The Ronin of Halo exchanged a brief handshake with the raven-haired man, "Good to see you Ryo."

"Likewise," Ryo told him, biting down an amused chuckle.

"So how is the editor-in-chief, on his way to become owner of the whole newspaper industry?" Sage queried.

Wildfire's bearer chuckled, "Doing well enough. What about you Mr. Best-seller bent on world domination?"

"No no, that's Tai," the Halo Ronin assured, "I just plan to take over the country, she said I could have it."

"Ya what do I want with this lousy piece of real estate, when I'll have the entire planet?" the red-head asked with a smirk.

"Ah, Queen Taini needs to have an army though. You need to plunger and pillage, starting with Sage's hairstyle. How about that? Anybody have a shaver?" Rin asked with a smirk.

Sage's eye twitched, and Taini gave him a look and he quit; though he gave her a sulky look. Ryo chuckled and shook his head.

"Anyway, I see you've made plenty of red-marks on the articles," Rin said going back to her business voice, and pulling the manila folder to her.

"Thank-you," Rin said as she made sure all the files were in it.

"Not a problem at all Rin," Ryo said with a polite bow of his head.

"I best be going," Rin looked at her watch and jumped, as her phone had gone off.

She took her phone out of her back pocket and saw that Sage was the wise-guy calling her. She smacked him upside the head with her purse again, "You did that on purpose."

"Damn right I did," Sage commented with a smirk, chuckling at her in amusement.

"You two boys go have fun," Taini told them with a smirk, before latching onto Rin, "Come on Rinny!"

"Now don't make me use my tazer if I see you two making out! Toodles!" Rin said with a wink. "Baibai Miss Date! Sayanara Ryo."

Ryo rolled his eyes at the two women, and then grinned at his friend, "Come on, we're going to be early for the meet and greet at two, but we can talk."

Sage gave a nod it sounded like a plan to him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight:**

**Co-Written with Sifirela**

* * *

The two Ronin continued in their lengthy talk about the state of the writing industry, deciding to save more personal things for when the others showed up, that way things wouldn't have to be repeated.

Or avoided more than once…They arrived in the area with time to spare, and were mostly oblivious of their surroundings. Not the wisest of choices.

Midnight-blue eyes flashed in mirth, their owner well hidden from the two that were still talking. Rowen had had seen Ryo and Sage walk up to the fountain in the middle of the park and he smiled low to himself.

The Strata Ronin had arrived back in Japan the day before, with Kayura. He had known that for certain parts of the project; it would require him to be in Japan to complete them. Plus, while he was here he intended to help update the company's archaic computer database.

It was something he had planned a few months ago, so it hadn't surprised him that Ryo would choose a date for the five of them to get together. Of course, he had never expected it to be so close to his arrival. The guy really was a worry-wart…

At any rate, Strata's bearer had been in the park for about a half-hour now sitting on the bench not too far from the arranged meeting spot. Good, they had yet to realize he was there.

No doubt they were expecting him to be the last one to show up. In the past it would have happened that way, but fate was kinder to him today. Maybe only today perhaps, but he wasn't going to question it.

He sat for as long as he could and finally, stood up. The tree granted him access to hide himself well, but allowed him to see them easily. He took some mud from the freshly rained on ground and balled it up.

Rowen cocked his hand back like a propeller and threw it. It landed on Sage's head with a loud splat. A second ball flew in all it's fury, and then exploded in front of Ryo.

The Ronin of Strata had changed the wind's currents, and merely grinned when it made the mudball blow up like a bomb. He snickered, hearing their cries of outrage and anger.

* * *

Sage glanced around his eyes scanning for the trouble-maker, knowing well enough who had pulled the stunt. It wasn't that hard to find the archer. With a bored look on his face, the blond swordsman gave a little nudge at the nearest electric object; pleased when yowls of surprise came from Strata's bearer.

Rowen came from behind the tree with his hair sticking up at all odd ends, a prominent scowl etched into his face.

"You sadistic bastard," was all the archer could manage, as with every step he took an electric jolt would send him to stumble in his walk.

A local visitor to the park was talking on her cellphone while Rowen had passed by. One jolt from his passing, the phone went dead leaving her to stare at the thing in complete confusion.

Ryo was in absolute stitches wiping the mud from his face, "Hey Ro, s'up sparky?"

Sage gave a grin, now fully pleased with himself, and the comment he had garnered, "Damn right I am."

"Shut up Pyro," Rowen said, putting his hand on his friend's hair and pulling, it sticking up as well. He re-worked the mud from Ryo's face that he didn't get off and actually made a mask around his leader's eyes. "There, now you look like the Masked Retard of Tokyo. Where's your cheesy music and light in the sky?"

Ryo gave his friend a lidded look, opened his mouth to say something, only to get drenched as the fountain spiraled out of control, nearly drowning him and Rowen.

The Ronin of Halo had been fortunate enough to move out of the way, having sense the incoming tidal wave. "Hi Cye," Sage eagerly greeted, "Nice of you to join us."

"Hullo," the Ronin of Torrent smirked at his handiwork, then turned his head to the blond, "How goes the novelling?"

"It goes," Sage offered a shrug, "You?"

"Waiting to get out of my current job, only have a week or two more."

"Kind of freaky you're working for my Great Aunt," Rowen brought in, getting to his feet, having been knocked over by the bombardment of water. "She's as scary as my Dad when he's going over a project in his lab."

The archer walked over and smacked Cye over the head, as he added, "And you, you must be related to Sage...You both are sardonic sadistic bastards."

"Come up with synonyms mate, or you'll be out of a job," Cye remarked blandly.

Sage sniggered, saying, "Don't you know Rowen? It's always us quiet ones that cause the most trouble."

"I'm still trying to get over the shock that happened in my workplace. So shut it. I'm disoriented from jet-lag too," Strata's bearer informed the Water Ronin, than cast a glance at Halo.

"And yes I know, Sage. You're always gloating about that fact," Rowen replied flicking his friend in the nose.

"Shock, what sort of shock?" Cye queried tilting his head

Sage rubbed at his nose, and stuck his tongue out at his once best friend.

Rowen tried to grab the offending tongue only to have another shock. "You're so going to pay for that." Rowen warned the blond, before he shook his head at Cye's comment, "Apparently Kayura was bored in the Nether Realm and decided to come to the modern day world for work. She's now my apprentice I have to train."

"And did you know Dais owned a bar near here?" Rowen asked conversationally, at his friend's incredulous "WHAT" he grinned. "Told you there was a shocker."

"Dias owning a bar? That's not much of a shocker. I've known about that for the past two years. I stumbled across the place, just never thought to mention it to you guys. By the way, Hi," the Ronin of Hardrock greeted, having had no trouble finding the other four with all the horsing around they were doing. "Long time no see."

"Kento good timing," Sage said with a smile, "Odd, normally you're the first one anywhere." A small frown was on his lips a moment, but it faded as he decided not to mention anything about the Warrior of Strength's obvious loss of weight…Not, now anyway.

"That's normally you mate," Cye pointed out to the blond, before his sea-green gaze settled on Hardrock, "Oi, lugg!"

"Ya talk about role reversals," Ryo dryly commented before shaking his head at his friends.

Torrent's bearer proceeded to grab Kento in a headlock, gave him a noogie, and then stepped away, "That's to make up for the fact I couldn't do it earlier."

"Hardy har har," Kento rubbed his hair back and glared at Cye. "You really are an ass. And stop talking like a bleeping Englishman. You're NOT British."

Rowen snorted having now found his voice to speak, he'd been a little shocked at Hardrock's overall appearance, "Kento's right." He looked at Cye, "You're not entitled to use the slang from the U.K."

"Give me one good ruddy reason," the Water Ronin said in English, British accent quite thick now.

Sage gave them a bored look, "Why don't you guys go get a room? Ryo and I can wait for you to get done."

Ryo snorted down a laugh at the commented, trying hard to keep his composure.

"But a foursome would be so much better, and you know how you're good with your hands, Seiji," Rowen said, winking his eyes.

"Sorry I'm very much taken," Sage shrugged his shoulders, "And I refuse to be disloyal; sorry Ro. But now that I think about it, take Ryo, I'm sure he's up for the task."

The blond ducked the punch Ryo threw at him and sniggered at the look on his leader's face, as well the guffaw Kento gave.

"I don't know any of you," Cye resolutely informed them.

"So," Rowen saw an opening, and refused to let it pass him by, "Who's the lucky one, huh? Is it that Taini finally?"

Sage made sure he boxed Rowen's ears for that comment, not at all thrilled with the implications.

"Is it? C'mon Sage, spill," Cye commented, "We all are very eager to hear..." He jumped away from the swordsman who's eye was currently twitching

"Or is it Taini's friend!" Rowen grinned. "C"mon spill dude."

"We are just friends," the Ronin of Halo gritted out, and snorted, "No. It's a thing known as sarcasm. I'm single, it works better that way."

"With a little bit of booty on the side ne?" When Sage's ears got red, Rowen grinned.

"All right you guys settle, kill each other when a reporter isn't around to witness it," Ryo warned them.

"Yes Oh Leader," Rowen bowed mockingly.

Kento got to him before Ryo could, "Shut up already."

"Thanks Kento buddy," Ryo grinned; if there was one thing he could count on, it was the fact that the Ronin of Hardrock always had his back.

"So, we all know how work is going," Sage commented, querying, "How are the families?"

"Heard from Dad yesterday, he's really enjoying the Canadian photo tour," Ryo said with a chuckle, "Man always was cheaply entertained."

Cye chuckled in amusement at that, then remarked, "Say's expecting again...So, I'm going to be an Uncle once more...Hope this one is mellow though; all the others are little hooligans."

"How many kids does she have right now? Two...three? Man she's like a freaking rabbit," Kento commented shaking his head when Cye held up three fingers. He realized the other's attention had turned to him, "Well Mom and Dad are enjoying their 'Golden' Years and have yet to return from Italy on a vacation that was supposed to be for at least two weeks. It's been nearly three months already. Chun Fa is being a mega-witch and her hormones are racing up the creek. Caught her kissing her 'best' friend who is a guy... And the other sibs are just as bratty, and the same."

"What else is new with my family? My father's still a mad scientist and my mom's still an airheaded Journalist. Go fig ne?" Rowen said with a shrug.

"Ah the joys of family," Sage said with a snigger, hands in his pockets. "Last I heard anything, Yayoi's in charge of the clan, getting married next year. Satsuki is still very much going out and ga-ga for the guy she's been dating for the past 3 years..." He shrugged, "That's as much as I was able to get."

"Not that I actually want more," here he sounded thoughtful, "It's different not having their constant pressure and badgering, it's really strange not having it."

Ryo walked behind his blond friend, and gave a shake of his head; yeah, and Sage wouldn't tell them how much it hurt then, and how much it still hurt, to be cast aside in such a fashion.

It really made the Wildfire Ronin's blood boil, after everything the Ronin of Halo had done for his family…What they had done in return was simply unforgivable. The other three were quiet, probably reflecting on the same thing as well.

But Strata's bearer vied for the change in topic, asking with a chuckle, "So what are we planning on doing? Just walking around the park?"

"Yeah Ry, you just said to meet you in the Park, so what are we doing?" Kento smirked.

"Oh the Leader is supposed to have a plan now is he?" Ryo asked with an amused grin; he loved keeping their asses in the dark.

"Smug bastard," Sage popped him one for that, chuckling when the Wildfire Ronin scowled.

"What are you keeping from us, huh?" Kento asked, grabbing Ryo by the collar of his white shirt and gently shaking him. All in good play though.

"Shaken Ronin Syndrome, joy," Cye snorted out in amusement.

Rowen shook his head, "Stop trying to kill him and wait until he's sleeping. Then we can use our lethal weapon on him."

Sage shook his head at the group sometimes wondering how it was that he knew them, and then froze for a moment casting his leader a look. The Wildfire Ronin merely disentangled himself from Kento, and grinned at Sage, before whistling as he walked ahead of them.

* * *

Sage's eyes were now more than half-lidded as he continued to stare at Ryo's back. But if the Ronin of Wildfire knew he was getting the look, he was dutifully ignoring it.

"Oi, Ryo," a familiar voice called out, tone sounding bored, "You look like a drowned rat." He bumped fists with the young man, and then cast the other four a disinterested look, "Oh joy, the remnants of the Ronin Rodent Brigade are here."

"Afternoon, Sekhmet," Ryo cheerfully remarked to the green-haired man.

"Oh great, Beady eyed, Green Snake-breath here to haunt us too... Who next?" Rowen rolled his eyes and looked to his left to see another familiar figure, this one hanging upside down beside him.

"Boo," Dais said with a bored drawl, causing Rowen to scream high pitched.

"Dammit Dais!"

"I like it," Sage remarked in approval of the man's action, eyes becoming half lidded as he suddenly stuck out his foot, "Hello Cale; have a nice trip?"

Kayura sniggered as she made her presence known as she joined the rest of them, "I think he did!"

"I despise you, Halo," Cale informed him, glaring up at the blond man with a scowl.

"Yes yes, we all know this, and accept the fact you have an unhealthy obsession, get over it and move on," Sage's tone was one of dismissal.

Sekhmet chortled at hearing this, dabbing at his eyes with his thumb. Oh, it seemed like Halo had developed a sense of humor over the years.

"I have a healthy obsession, despite what you may think you know," Cale retorted, getting to his feet and dusting himself off.

"Bloody hell Ryo," Cye glowered at his leader, who merely smirked in triumph; yep he had pulled one over on them.

Rowen just rolled his eyes, as he queried of his leader, "Gah, so why the hell did you want us to meet these freaks anyway?"

"Closure?" Ryo offered chortling at all the dark looks he was getting from everyone. Yeah, sometimes he enjoyed being a pain, it just made some things oh-so worth it.

"Here's closure, let's hang him off Tokyo Tower," Sage said to those around him, "All those in favor?"

"I'm up for it," Sekhmet and Cye said with a nod; Kayura merely shook her head at them...Boys would be boys.

"I'm game," Rowen said with a grin.

"C'mon Guys, get serious. Really. You scare me sometimes," Kento rolled his eyes skyward. Seriously, they really worried him.

Sage rolled up his sleeves ignoring Hardrock's comment, and Ryo blanched, "Oh come on you guys, can't you take a...IEEEE." Ryo landed in the fountain with a splash.

"Take it from there, minna," the blond swordsman announced, wiping off his hands. A small smirk framing his face, as Ryo spluttered and flailed around in the fountain.

"Lighten up Kento, you're getting to be as bad as Sage used to be," Cye reprimanded with a chuckle.

"Need a dip in the fountain Hardrock?" Sekhmet queried with a maniacal grin on his face.

"You're all idiots," Kayura commented with a sigh, shaking her head at their shenanigans.

"You touch me, Snake-man and I'll chop your head off so you won't ever grow another tail again," Kento warned with a lidded-look.

Sekhmet sighed obviously disappointed, "Oh well, what other person can I target?" His black-eyes went to Cale and he smirked, more so when the man scowled at him in warning.

"So, what exactly was the idea behind this?" Sage queried of his sopping wet leader, who finally emerged from the fountain.

Ryo gave a snort, tapping on his armor's power to dry off his clothes and body, "What's today?"

Cye blinked as he thought it over for a brief moment, "No shit, really? Damn, that many years...Amusing we ever survived this far."

"I'll say," Kayura grumbled under her breath, "Especially when I haven't been doing my guard duty yet."

Rowen cast the Lady Ancient a look, to which she simply smiled at him in return, causing him to shake his head and roll his eyes. He had to admit, she was easy to get along with. It'd been nice having her for an intern, when he'd dealt with so many nightmares in the past.

Of course, the whole fact she was out for his blood at one time still was on his mind, buried in the back somewhere. That was where he dumped most of the things he didn't want to deal with, the rest he blocked out as if they didn't exist. It was how he had learned to cope, and who could blame him? His parents had never been around, he had raised himself, and he'd always been independent as it was.

Those few short years spent in the presence of the others, wasn't enough to completely rewrite things already ingrained into his head…That saying was something that applied to all of them. They had learned to rely on each other, to trust each other, but slipping apart like they had…They had resorted to being the way they were before the fights.

A fact that Kayura and Ryo were all too well aware of, and something both knew was going to lead to trouble down the road…Especially, with what was coming.

* * *

_A/N: Courtesy of the RW Summer Writing Challenge; I promised that if I wrote one chapter of Unspoken, I'd post one up here on ffnet. So here you go. :)_

_-LG_


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